As spring blossoms in beautiful Detroit, Volt Reality Syndrome is starting to kick in with a vengeance. The latest victim is UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, who tells Reuters "When GM brings out that electric car, they're going to be taking a huge loss on that for a number of years." Of course reality is kind of Gettelfinger's thing. "Everybody is racing to get there, but there are some tough issues and cost is definitely going to be an issue for the consumer," says Ron, of the brave new hybrid/alt energy future. "It's pretty clear to me that, if it's not technically feasible and economically feasible, then you're not going to get there from here." Bold words from a bold man, but where's the proverbial beef? Whither the future, Mr. Gettelfinger? "There's nothing like the internal combustion engine," says Ron. "We've got 100 years with that baby." Although Gettelfinger comes across like your great-uncle who's convinced that they never should have done away with lead paint or child labor, he actually has a decent point. Most cars on the market could be made significantly cleaner and more efficient without resorting to complex hybrid drivetrains.
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Most cars on the market could be made significantly cleaner and more efficient without resorting to complex hybrid drivetrains.
Couldn’t agree more. It is entirely possible. One example alone is that Honda Insight project that was mentioned here a while back.
While I don’t argue with the fact that hybrids have a purpose, I still see them as a sort of self-serving gimmick at this point.
I personally have zero interest in them. That’s just me, though…
Why is it people jump on the electric car bandwagon as if it’s some sort of solution to the gas problem, while at the same time they diss solar power and H2? Just where, exactly, do they think the electricity is going to come from to power their toy cars?
Do they think that the electricity is just a naturally occuring substance within a battery? Where is the electricity that powers your home coming from? What fuel is used to make it? How much are you paying for it? And thats Without any of the huge “road” taxes applied. Did you happen to realize that electrons are “just an energy carrier”, NOT an energy source?
While electric cars may be great, they do NOTHING to solve the energy issue. They merely move the issue into the background. It would be nice if people could think past step one…
List of PZEV’s available in California. Not for sale in most other states, of course.
I think, after reading a fair bit on pro-electric car websites, that most electric car fans DO think beyond the first step, to be honest.
A lot of them are conflicted about the fact that so much US energy comes from coal, for example.
Nevertheless, it’s pretty clear that we have a major problem in the west – and that is that we are now importing 65% of the energy needed for our civilization, and a large portion of this is imported from self-avowed enemies of our civilization.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but financing your avowed enemies who wish to destroy 4.75 billion non-co-religionists is probably not a brilliant idea.
Hydogen is not a fuel. It is another form of potential energy storage.
If we want to survive the next 150 years, we will probably need to utilize solar power, thermal power, continue with water power and pretty much move to all electric vehicles.
We probably will have to have cars that are more like transport pods instead of extensions of our ego/phallus, and the added expense of these vehicles compared to current vehicles will probably mean we will need a 20 year ownership of them to make it affordable enough to retain the freedom of movement enjoyed by increasingly large percentages of the world population.
Just my two cents worth, folks.
Hard to beat the calories from a drop of gasoline, so easy to use. I like Uncle Ron, wouldn’t want to be a UAW member right now, but at least he is more realistic than the suits running GM.
I agree with Gettel 100%. Good old V8s are where our future is. Not in these unrelible hybrids. The only reason the Prius is done so well is the Japanese government paid for it.
DetroitIronUAW :
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I agree with Gettel 100%. Good old V8s are where our future is. Not in these unrelible hybrids. The only reason the Prius is done so well is the Japanese government paid for it.
Aside from hearsay from Jim Press, what proof do you have of the Japanese government’s involvement with the Prius?
As far as V8s being the future, you do realize that the single, unarguable truth is that gasoline will run out eventually, don’t you?
As far as V8s being the future, you do realize that the single, unarguable truth is that gasoline will run out eventually, don’t you?
Do you think only gasoline can power a V8?
Wolven: I power mine with kittens.
Ryan… I hear chipmunks work well too. :)
As I was driving in this morning, looking at miles of stopped every day backup in the opposite direction of the freeway, I wondered just how many gallons of gasoline and/or diesel could be saved if every single one of these vehicles had a hybrid drivetrain that only used an electric motor to crawl and stop. What would that do to the price of fuel?
This was just one stretch of jammed freeway, in one city, in one state.
I’m not a huge advocate of hybrid technology. I think it adds unnecessary cost, complication and potential environmental impact to vehicles that don’t sit in traffic or mainly ride city streets.
Pure electric transportation may not be the answer, forcing us to burn more coal until (and unless) alternative energy sources can catch up.
Hybrid…maybe not so bad.
Just a thought.
Gotta love Ronnie, aka “Mr. Delusional”. Please tell him denial is not a river in Egypt.
UAW death watch anyone?
snoissea- I’ve calling for a UAW Suicide Watch for awhile.
DetroitIronUAW-Do you know that the Prius has one of the best reliability records in the business?
Better than most (all?) Detroit V-8 vehicle on the market.
Do some research in JDP VDS, CR and True Delta.
It’s easy to make blanket statements, but checking the facts is sometimes a good idea first.
I for one can’t imagine why so many people are attracted to a reliable, affordable (and profitable) car that carries out it’s tasks well and gets an extra 20 mpg over it’s competition. Wow, they must be nuts!
Cordially,
Bunter
Gettelfinger is only partly correct. True the ICE has a lot more to offer yet but Hybrid/all electric powertrains have also. But what is behind Gettelfinger’s comment? It seems to me that his problem is not with the technology so much as the way GM are going about it. His worry is, what will the expense of a huge expensive flop do to jobs and he is right. By comparison to Toyota or Honda (or even Ford), the way GM has approached the developement and marketing of alt. powertrains is nothing short of pathetic, mind-boggingly stupid! It is not hard to see where it will all end up given GM’s miserable product developement history. Gettelfinger is also aware that GM’s incompetence is largely responsible for the loss of jobs and the devaluation of those that are left. While he does not have clean hands himself in this area he must see the writing on the wall.
The oil is going to run out, bio-fuel can’t be produced in sufficient quantity, solar and windpower depend on the weather, coal is dirty, hydrogen maybe. If you are looking for an alternate energy source why not nuclear? Nuclear energy provides lots of electricity to charge those batteries with little pollution. Greenpeacers need to get over their fear. With the right reactor (like those used in Canada)it is a safe source of power.
Thorium reactors show promise as a future energy source. Thorium is easier to mine than uranium, its byproducts have a shorter half-life than uranium (hundreds versus tens of thousands) and thus storage does not have to be designed to last for those thousands of years (Yucca), and its use does not produce weapons-grade plutonium. I believe the concept is also known as a Light Water Breeder Reactor, if you care to search for more info.
High oil prices are making investments in alternative energy (including nuclear) research more reasonable, so bully for that.
Coal is our most abundant and most currently used fuel for electical generation. Until enviro-wackos and our gutless legislators and regulators come around to more nuclear usage, we are stuck with it for a long, long time.
Thanks I’ll take a solar roof and an EV to haul me and mine around town with zero oil consumed doing that. I’ll keep an diesel on standby for out of town trips too.