The NG is limited resource as well. The oil pattern – 22% Oil import in 1970 and 70% import 2007 can be repeated for natural gas. For long haul heavy transport (trucks), public transport and airplanes NG should be good choice but for the rest I would doubt.

http://www.pickensplan.com

Harness the wind and solar to generate electricity for the VOLT!

http://www.pickensplan.com

For both sides of the political spectrum… Please don’t come here to PANDER, come here to SUPPORT.

……..the dollar will continue collapsing till you cry uncle and allow drilling. Of this I am certain.

That would explain why leaving my pocket pc phone in the truck during the day is terrible on the battery … I figured that out after a recent 100 degree day, when I left it on the charger in my truck… came out to the equivalent of a 60% charge. Hasn’t been the same since. Also, Tesla motors is basically insulating their batteries with “Anti-Freeze/Coolant” … makes sense.

I wonder if driving long distances, relying in the ICE for charging will severely limit the battery life due to the heat created in charging it.

Thanks for the battery information, seems like a very good resource.

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

It’s good to know there are still fiscal conservatives out there who aren’t constantly pandering for crumbs from the Uncle Sam’s table.

And don’t hold your breath on the PV panels. There’s no way that’ll be cost effective. Their not even cost effective yet for fixed installations. On a vehicle just makes it worse.

“TxRancher, kind of like how your former governor is doing with the Iraq War, right?”

What does the Iraq War have to do with the Federal Government subsidizing private industry … Also … I prefer our current Governor… he’s actually a fiscal conservative that has reduced taxation in Texas by enormous amounts, and has provided us with the lowest unemplyment rate in the country… Now, back to the Volt and it’s production & marketing.

My point is that Non-Volt buyers should not be subsidizing people who are buying the vehicle. My taxes should not be used for someone else’s vehicle purchase. A Tax Credit, based on a reduction in Fuel related Trade Deficit factored by annual miles driven would be an acceptable incentive… but the taxes I pay should be applied to things that are within the realm of the Federal Government, such as Defense, Justice, promoting free and unhindered trade both between the states and with other countries etc. In all actuality, that is about all the Federal Government is historically charted to do!

If GM were to begin getting all kinds of subsidies to produce and market the Volt, it will actually raise the production costs of the vehicle. (Huh?) Yeah, any time you make money cheaper, the actual “real cost”, whether it be manufacturing, shipping, etc… will rise. Look at College Tuition … the more money the federal government thorws at schools, the higher the tuition gets. Same thing in the auto industry, and similar to congress bailing out Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac etc… (neither of which should even exist, but I digress).

They should not be interfering in capitalism, that is what got us into the mess we are in now. General Motors builds some of the most reliable vehicles on the planet. I have 225,000 miles on my 2001 Chevy truck, original everything except for the right front axle/hub (I do a lot of off-road driving). All GM has to do is get the vehicle out there, with good quality control, attractive marketing, and real world results to show the economic savings that consumers will experience, and the vehicle will eventually sell itself.

The federal government was partially the reason that the electric car saw an earlier demise. Government regulations demanded specific things to be produced in an over-regulated non-market driven environment. It mandated something that wasn’t quite ready for prime-time, and because it was a mandate, it was accomplished by GM merely to satisfy that mandate, without a long term look at the market, the sustainability in manufacturing, and the service and support cycle. For instance, there shouldn’t even be CAFE standards for fuel mileage … The Market will weed out the winners and losers, and those companies that produce what drivers want, and can bring it to market in a timely manner will succeed. The others will fail, as it should be!

If the market demands a product, and I believe the Volt and similar Fossil Fuel Charged Electric vehicles will be in very high demand, then the market itself will find a way to perpetuate the production of that item in a manner that allows for the seller to profit without the hindrance, regulation and interference of the government.

I WILL buy a Volt when it comes out, not because of being “green”, but because of “saving green”. It’s obvious that the Congress is not going to allow for the production of domestic crude unless they can credit it to themselves and a White House held by their party. That is the reason that they will not move on any real energy plan until after the election in November, if even then. Therefore, we are looking at $3.85 a gallon gasoline (your price may vary/not available in all states/past results are no indicator of future performance) for the foreseeable future, which means that my 150 miles per day commute gets expensive. At an average of 64 mpg, with the first 60 to 80 miles costing under a dollar (free in my case), it would save me approximately $600 a month in fuel costs alone. It will also alter my $850 a year tire replacement to about an average of around $300 a year, saving me another $25 a month.

What remains to be seen regarding the Volt, is battery lifetime. At 150 miles per weekday minimum, how well will the battery hold up? If the battery needs to be replaced too often, then how bad will that affect return on investment? If the PV roof panel is an actual option, that will further reduce monthly costs, but the option cost must be factored into the equation.

Asking me or anyone else to subsidize another person’s vehicle purchase is like asking one of us to pay for your health care or your grocery bill. It’s not part of the ideology that founded this country and is a socialist recipe for economic, industrial, and technological disaster… Of course, Karl Marx would have loved the idea. Then again, the Soviet Union never invented anything, they merely stole technology from the United States, Britain, and others nations that had free capitalistic, entrepreneueal societies.

And Mitch, we already covered my mistake. Let’s move on, k?

The car will sell on its own merits. If it does what it is supposed to do, it will it will dominate the auto market.

Remember, we will still need oil companies and Wall Street when the Volt is on American roads by the millions. We just won’t need as MUCH oil.

Short term investments and overall speculation is not the problem here.