Quote:
Originally Posted by Zachstar
You cant suddenly "mass produce" something as advanced as a car. On top of that even if they managed to get GMs plants it would take half a decade to retool them to produce such awkward vehicles.
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didnt i say earlier we needed a "ten year plan"? 
of course it wouldnt be an over night operation... but like i said $20 BILLION makes one hell of a motivator. You may not realize it but Aptera is
currently building these cars. of course they are building them to order for CA residents only
.
If the Aptera or a car like it were available in Texas, i would have purchased one last July. - the big problem with electric hybrid and all electric vehicles thus far IMHO has been one of lack of stylish designs.
the serpentine styling of the Aptera particularly appeals to me over say... the Nissan leaf or the Prius, neither of which are sporty in my opinion.
I think families with 2 cars could really benefit right now by owning one electric or electric-hybrid and one gasoline powered vehicle.
while your family of four is not going to pile into something like the Aptera with its 300mpg range and 2 seat capacity - you might see a number of grocery runs, work commutes and other errands being completed with the car.
My wife and I have already determined that if we owned an all electric vehicle. it would save us between $1,000 and $2,500 in fuel costs annually. Thats a nice vacation (which we haven't had in a while.)
One of my friends who is an electrical engineer claims that an all electric car could be recharged overnight (using aptera's figures) for about $3 to $5 total. And you would really only be charging the electric car once about every 3 or 4 days (maybe once every 15 days depending on commute distance) so your electric bill increases of course... but based on the numbers he ran would only be about $30 more per month assuming you charged it every 4 days. However, your automobile emissions would be nil, and you didnt spend jack squat on fuel. if i used the vehicle for my commute... im looking at substantial savings.
i just find it funny, that America is crying to get free of oil dependency, but
then we inject untold billions of dollars into the revitalization of the American Automobile Industry and create a program which encourages current vehicle owners with incentives to trade in their old fossil fuel vehicles for new ones.
nothing about that equation makes sense.
i say - like i have a dozen times - the thing to do would have been to let GM fail.
but...but..you lose all those jobs: been to detroit? its a slum
already with hundreds of acres of unoccupied neighborhoods. The jobless rate in America would LEAP from 9.7% to about 10% (keep your eye on the prize that 90% of Americans are still employed) but those people would be able to find jobs with new car companies building new hybrid and electric vehicles once they ramp up production.
the next thing to do would have been to inject that cash into the upstart vehicle companies currently producing these types of cars.
the first thing you are going to see is purchasing of land, and construction of factories and warehouses... like you said this will take about 3 years to tool in a factory. this will come at a cost of several hundred million - oh hell - lets even say 5 billion dollars. (you still have a good $15B left)
the second thing you are going to see is that these car companies are going to need thousands of employees to build cars.
third... dealer networks will emerge.
you wont see a dealer on every corner of every small town in America... I'm talking you might see
one dealership per state, or two in particularly large states. so an individual in Illinois might have to drive to Chicago to purchase one and then take it home.
if America really wants independence from oil... we sure are showing it by dumping billions of dollars out so that GM can make more Corvettes, Camaros, Yukons and Silverados.
