The headline at Time.com:
All of a Sudden, There Aren’t Enough Electric Cars to Keep Up with Demand
From the story underneath that headline:
For the time being, Honda is sticking with a plan to sell a maximum of just 1,100 Fit EVs in the U.S. As the LA Times put it, “there is little financial incentive to increase production” on the Fit EV because Honda loses money on each of the cars it builds.
Probably irrelevant for Canada.
…except for perhaps Victoria or Vancouver.
Electric vehicles are a niche market and there will always be enough produced to meet the demand.
yeah even two wheels (motorcycle type vehicles) are a bust.
battery assisted bicycles appear popular with some inner city couriers.
Brad Tuttle @bradrtuttle
Brad Tuttle covers business and personal finance for TIME. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and four sons, and also teaches journalism at UMass-Amherst.
Drop the retail price of any gasoline-powered commuter car by so much that the manufacturer is losing $10k on each one and they’ll be sold out even faster.
The folks who paid full price and now have a vehicle with a depreciated value based on the new discount will be a touch irritated I should think. Not too mention being out several grand over the folks who bought a month later!
With zero salvage value
Coal powered cars…..how incredibly stupid.
0 salvage value ? I would bet a beer or two that when it comes time to scrap these things there will be a stack of paperwork to fill out and a hefty cheque to write before the tow truck takes it away. I just bought a new battery (one) for my truck and had a page of paperwork before I was allowed to cart it out of the store. Considering EV’s are toxic waste on wheels, I have the feeling the trip to car heaven could cost plenty.
Yes, for a lot of North America they are coal powered cars, and that’s going to increase toxic coal pollution. Stupid idea.
The west coast is an exception to that. LA for instance gets most of it’s electricity from hydro. In cities like LA, electric cars can reduce pollution, both locally and regionally. An electric vehicle charged by solar panels can provide a lot of very cheap travel.
Nobody rational is suggesting that electric vehicles are a widely applicable solution. Not until we have mostly nuclear power and more efficient batteries. It wasn’t that long ago that I needed an extension cord and a wall plug to run a hand drill. My 18v Makita drill is lighter than my old plug-in and has just as much power. This shows significant advances in battery tech and no doubt the Asians will have something even better in the future.
The Chinese are working to transition directly from coal to nuclear and electric vehicles play a big role in that plan.
Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
Electric car politics is a different issue altogether which I won’t go into beyond saying that government shouldn’t be subsidizing ANY industry with the possible exception of nuclear power.
Interesting that Honda refuses to make more than a small limited number of the cars. They do the same with the natural-gas-powered Civic GX which is very difficult for an individual consumer to buy.
“yeah even two wheels (motorcycle type vehicles) are a bust.”
Not really, they’re cheap and they work fairly well (at least the scooter style do) you see them everywhere and the 5 local dealers have a hard time keeping them in stock.
I’ve had one for over a year – do all my local trips on it, weather permitting, it’s paid for itself already in savings on gas, insurance, parking and licencing – I get close to 40 miles on a 5 hr. 20 cent charge – free, reliable local transport – can’t beat it. They even rent these things at all the beach tourist traps.
EV is not eerlevalent for Da Quebec Libre.
H/T Da Red-Green Eco-Gangers Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and Quebec Premier Pauline Marois.
…-
“Vermont, Quebec announce electric car corridor”
http://www.kjonline.com/news/Vt-and-Quebec-announce-electric-car-corridor.html
Why yes, there was a reason the electric car died off in the 1920’s. Why do you ask?
Hey sounds like a great plan, buy an ev car and let the manufacturer and the taxpayer each take a bath on it and when it wears out abandon it on the side of the road like an East German Trabant. And oh yes the earth suffers because of material needed in the batteries were mined in China which has zero enviromental standards.
Oops, I forgot one tiny little thing, I live in a rural area in what is often a bitterly cold climate and 40 miles away from buying anything outside of bare essentials. I think my desire to go electric and save the world just went to zero.
Hey North…. Not quite right on LA power.
*******************
. But Arizona has some serious leverage over Los Angeles, as well as the rest of California. The state and city get electricity from a nuclear power plant outside Phoenix, as well as from coal-fired power plants in northern Arizona and two giant hydroelectric power generators along the Colorado River.
Notice…. who is making that power.
I know two people with Teslas in Vancouver. one says he will have only electric cars in the future, he just loves it. When I need to replace our second vehicle, the wife’s run about, I’m sure that we will go electric. I put 240v service in my garage when I built it in 2002.