I do not see what relevance the year has.
The fact is that even with decades-old technology it was possible to
get 50 miles per gallon in a small car without all the drawbacks of
hybrids.
My own car has a carburetor. Works just fine, and is simple to repair
if something goes wrong.
Look, the fact is that government has no business dictating gas
mileage. That is a job for the free market.
That is very short-term thinking. (It is also unlikely any batteries
currently in production will actually last that long.) Hybrids just
don't make any sense as far as I'm concerned. When we went new-car
shopping for the wife last year we did not even consider them.
I appreciate your response but your facts are not right.
All it takes for the rest of the people to get screwed by Luddite
mentalities is to sit idly on their hands and do nothing. Sorry but a
"good-enough" mentality just isn't good enough today. Maybe you have
too much money too spend on $3.50 gas prices so you don't care. The
rest of us are bleeding dry. Average Americans are getting more
financially strapped since gas prices have essentially doubled in the
last 4 years. I realize that Americans have nothing to complain about
with respect to gas prices elsewhere (hello Europe) but "elsewhere"
have fuel economy standards that are much higher than ours. You apathy
is very disconcerting. As long as thing's don't affect YOU, who cares
right? What about the rest of us? What about future generations? Poor
decisions now affect all generations down the line.
It'll tell you why the year has complete relevance. If you'd rather
revert back to an era when cars were inefficient, had no safety
regulations, no airbags, no anti-lock brakes, no vehicle stability
control, or other amenities we take for granted now, that's fine.
Don't drag the rest of us who want progress, change, and improvements
along with you. If you fear change, that's your problem, not anyone
else's. There are benefits to not wasting and it's disappointing to
see that you cannot concede that waste is bad. Maybe it is easier to
fix a carburetor but that technology suffers from so many other
problems than modern injector technology doesn't. I'm sorry if you
don't like the fact that computers and technology controls and more
optimally runs a vehicle than a grease-monkey can. Is it more costly
to fix when it breaks. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Thankfully,
technology does this wonderful thing of becoming cheaper as the years
progress. If it were not true, we'd all still be paying $500 for a DVD
player. If it weren't for progress and rules, we'd all still be using
leaded gas. It all ties in together. You don't agree?
Right now, the batteries are a large part of the price tag of hybrid
car, but the battery tech they're using is pretty old-tech as well.
After all, Hybrids have only been around for a few years. It is in its
infancy. They are progressing towards LiOn and newer technologies but
those batteries are, currently, much much more expensive to implement.
Given a few more years and R&D, it'll be old news.
Short-term thinking is thinking it will never get better. After all,
all of the amenities in cars today, only a few years ago, were only
for people with lots of money to spend on high-end models. As
production costs continue to decrease and adoption rates increase,
"optional" suddenly became standard. Funny that, huh?
Another funny thing about the free market model: who control the
market? In my opinion, not the consumers. Since the auto boys are
making gobs of cash off of expensive SUVs, it is no longer in their
best interest to improve upon sedans and smaller cars because they
make less profit on smaller cars. So if you think that free market
determines cost and trends, what would happen if all the auto makers
decided they want to make more money by making less smaller cars and
sedans and only focused on their big money makers? After all, free
market or not, if your options are limited to what auto-makers think
customers want, how free is it exactly? Fact is, the Oil boys have
gotten hip over the past few years the de facto business model for the
21st century: Make less, charge more. Artificial supply and demand
manipulation. I don't think there's any conspiracy, OPEC, or other
excuse behind it. It's just business.
Last month, Bob Lutz of GM backtracked on a high-performance
rear-wheel drive V8 saying it couldn't be done efficiently. Apparently
now it may happen but with a V6. Guess why: Energy Tax Act of 1978.
Thankfully there are at least SOME basic standards that exist in this
country, too bad they are horribly outdated compared to other
countries.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/0...ive-programs-back-on-track-now-with-more-mpg/
- Thee Chicago Wolf
