It is certainly is a topic that I’ve blogged about before – a side transformation of American life and putting a stake in the heart in the American love of that big throaty roar of a well-tuned big block V8. Instead, we’d be transformed to go down that Electric Avenue. Unfortunately, other than he, the anti-live-where-you-want crowds, the eco-obsessed, most of the American public have gone for the bigger vehicles: pickups and SUVs. The idea of a “tin can and a 9 volt” just has not caught on even with massive subsidies from the Government to the car companies and to consumers (and yes, one of the “side reasons” for the failed Cash for Clunkers program). Thus, this at CNSNews (reformatted, emphasis mine):
In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama predicted that the U.S. would have “a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.”The president backed up his prediction with $2.4 billion in federal grants to companies producing lithium-ion batteries for plug-in cars. But reality hasn’t even come close. Despite massive federal spending on electric vehicles, which is expected to total $7.9 billion through 2019, there are currently just 286,390 plug-in vehicles on the nation’s roads today, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA).
That’s 72 percent lower than the million electric vehicles the president predicted four years ago. And with gasoline prices
now averaging $2.06 per gallon, the lowest they’ve been since April 2009, that percentage is not likely to change any time soon. Despite steep discounts, manufacturers’ rebates, federal and state tax credits, and even special utility rates in some areas, plug-in electric vehicles accounted for just 3.5 percent of the more than 16.4 million light vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2014, according to EDTA
Actually, if you do the math for the average person, it doesn’t make financial sense to go for one – even with subsidies, one gets (outside of, perhaps, internal satisfaction), you get far less car than for an internal combustion one. Please also note that for the real small cars, the mpg isn’t vastly different and while the IC cars have the ongoing expense of gas, the electrics have a staggering cost, relatively speaking, of a new battery bank a few 10s of thousand miles.
Ford’s F-Series pickup retained its position as the most popular vehicle in America with 753,851 sold nationwide, according to national sales figures compiled by Good Car Bad Car. Chevrolet’s Silverado pickup came in second with 529,755 sold last year. The Dodge Ram pickup was third with 439,789 vehicles sold last year. In contrast, the three top-selling electric plug-in models were the Nissan Leaf (30,200 sold), the Chevrolet Volt (18,805 sold) and the Toyota Prius HPV (13,264 sold). By this time, General Motors was supposed to be selling 120,000 Volts annually and Nissan 100,000 plug-in Leafs, according to a 2011 DOE report.
The higher initial cost of an all-electric vehicle is one reason they are so unattractive to consumers. The Associated Press calculated that even with a 16 percent sticker price discount and a $7,500 federal tax credit, “it would take five years to pay off the difference in price” between an electric Ford Focus and the popular gas-powered model. The other major obstacle is driving range. The all-electric Focus has a maximum driving range of just 76 miles on a full battery and few electric cars can go more than a hundred miles before needing to be recharged.
Pretty much, the above shows that Obama does not have his thumb of what the American public wants. Instead, he has wished to FORCE his idea of what “you need” onto them – and they have rejected him soundly.
Unfortunately, I think he “gets it” about as much as he did the results of November’s election. I’m betting he’s just thinking – I WILL make them like my choice.
God help us all.
