In his 2011 "State of the Union" address, President Obama predicted that the U.S. would "become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015," and backed up his prediction with $2.4 billion in federal grants to companies that produce lithium-ion batteries to power them.
But with 14 months to go, sales of the two top-selling plug-in cars are running far behind the president's expectations. And despite receiving $99.8 million in stimulus funds, electric charging station manufacturer Ecotality filed for bankruptcy last month.
h/t peterj
And if as Owebama predicted there are 1,000,000 electric vehicles on the road, 999,999 of them will be there because of a dead battery directly caused by the latest Gore effect.
If you build it they will come. Doesn't mean they will buy it. Overpriced, inefficient and no trade in value after 7 or 8 years is something only a treehugger would see as small price to save the planet. If its survival depends on government subsidies you can rest assured it wasn't meant to be.
Tesla is showing the way. Obama is out a year or two in his prediction, that's all.
Tesla can only confirm 2,650 Model "S" cars sold in 2012.
They're "betting" on selling 20,000 cars in 2013, presumably in a non-burning state.
2,650 sales vs. 5,000 predicted is poor.
2,650 sales vs. 60,000 total isn't the mark of an industry leader.
60,000 sales vs. 177,600 predicted doesn't bode well for the industry.
The million-vehicle prediction could still come true in 2016 if we assume year-on-year doubling of total sales. This assumes GM sells half of those cars--at a loss of $49,000 each. I'm sure they'll get right on it.
When a small piece of road debris can turn your car into a rolling BBQ you still have a long way to go before your car is mainstream ready.....