Recent Comments:
AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 1 - In the beginning {Autoblog Green}
Jun 24th 2008 3:04AM Meme,
It's ridiculous to say suggest such a one-sided story. It's clear you haven't heard both sides. The basis of Tesla came from the three founders including the design, it wasn't Musk. And when you are making a business plan it doesn't require an official office to do that. All start ups start out in a similar way. Having an office is not a measurement if a company is legitimate or not.
It's a lot easier when you already have a plan to build on or change. It's much harder to come up with a plan from scratch. Do you know the first thing you need to do to make a car company? Do you even know how many regulations there are to make a car "production ready"?
And if your claim that Elon got the "real" things done, then why is Tesla still not delivering to schedule?
Please go make a new car company before you make this into a simple black and white story. Then you might have some respect for the founders and understand that life has many shades of gray.
You need both an investor and a founder/visionary to make a start-up.
New Toyota fuel cell hybrid has over 500 mile range {Autoblog Green}
Jun 7th 2008 2:19AM Smith,
I don't know about the answers to those questions I just know they are astronomically high.
One, hydrogen cars cost one million dollars. In southern california there is but ONE hydrogen station.
Two, EVs are far more advanced and convenient and need no dramatic shift in infrastructure.
Three, the hydrogen fuel will cost you 3-4 times of current gas prices, oh wait, they're still made from fossil fuels. And if you use water, that's dumb, you're using a limited and essential resource for life to fuel your one mil car.
Four, electricity can be made in multiple ways, solar, wind, ocean and it takes one electron to move a car forward as opposed to hydrogen taking four electrons to do the same job.
Five, this so called 500 mile range car is absolutely hilarious. NO one that I know of needs 500 miles in one tank. You're fuel efficiency can't be great when you lug that much fuel around for no reason.
And this is a concept, it isn't even a viable production plan.
Just like no one would buy a cell phone when there is only one antenna, no one will buy a hydro car when there is only one fuel station. By the time this concept car ... makes it to production for some miraculous reason, EVs will be far superior.
Waste of money Toyota.
Technology has come to shut you gas automakers and big oil. Face it, you have to adapt to the new era. Just like cinemas were run out of business by the invention of the television, they have to up their cars.
GM readies all 2009 Cadillac Escalades for ethanol {Autoblog Green}
Jun 7th 2008 2:11AM Nice PR stunt GM. But it'll never see the light of day because it simply blows. It's a mediocre technology that isn't even cheaper than gas or efficient as gas.
GM is dumb. I can do a better job than they can and I don't need 20 years of stupid training like theirs.
Porsche going way down market with VW Golf-based hatchback? {Autoblog Green}
Jun 6th 2008 1:46PM Porsche needs to get with the program. chalk out their gas guzzling cars or start making better ones. OR, just don't sell as much and don't get as much profit. They can't exempt like Lambo. Stop with the excuses.
Ten Mitsubishi iMiEVs will roll around July G8 Summit in Japan {Autoblog Green}
Jun 6th 2008 1:41PM I don't care if it is slightly higher than a compact car pricing because .. there is NO other afforadable electric car avaliable. It doesn't matter. The volt is still a two seater. I'll take a IMiev any day.
Prius sales down 40% in May, tight supplies blamed {Autoblog Green}
Jun 4th 2008 2:31PM rj and chris,
I think there's more to it than just mpg and fuel costs.
people who are buying these prii are suv and truck owners that get 10 mpg and maybe 13 mpg if they're lucky. So if 136 dollars becomes 272 per month you can practically buy off the extra money you paid for the prius.
People aren't trading in 35mpg for 44mpg. The cost benefit is minimal. If you go to a honda dealer they'll tell you people are trading in SUVs and Trucks not another compact sedan for a hybrid.
Maintenance costs weren't added to the equation. Prii use regen braking, don't use as much gas, and works with an electric motor requiring less gas changes and less wear and tear etc. You have to add those lowering of costs to the bill.
Battery costs will come after 7-10 years by which the batteries will cost even less than $3000. Heck , it dropped $2000 dollars in just the last decade.
Pretty soon the overhaul of a gas engine will be more expensive than the battery replacement.
Why is it that titles in some of these blogs are so negative and obscure the actual truth?
It's not Prius sales are down 40%, it's that demand has become so high they can't keep up the supply of the Prii like in 2004. The average days on the dealer lot for a prius is no more than a few days. In fact some are bought before the plastic packagings are taken off.
Last year's average was an average. They sold more in May because they had an excess in storage that were built over the weeks. So they figured that's what is needed this year, to hit that same average. They weren't planning to see a jump in gas prices to the extent that they couldn't keep up with demand. That's why they're building two new battery plants in the U.S.
It means that Toyota has been doing great because they've been selling more cars prior to May that can't keep up with demand therefore, they have less cars to sell.
Sales are up but when you take only one month and compare that to the year before it misses the big picture of what is actually happening.
Meeting new CAFE regs will cost Detroit double what it costs the Japanese {Autoblog Green}
May 27th 2008 2:45PM Jeremy,
The title is quite misleading. It ought to be titled:"Big 3 are reaping what they didn't research" or "Big 3 dug themselves holes to meet CAFE standards".
I'll tell you why. Unfortunately your title suggests that the Japanese will pay less to meet CAFE standards which is quite inaccurate. The Japanese has paid in fact much more than GM because they have ALREADY put that money into R&D for the last 10 to 15 years. The ONLY reason that the Big 3 has to pay more now is because they didn't use it before to meet new market demand.
The Japanese have put in more R&D than any American company, that is why they have much less to meet the CAFE standards. In fact that whole country of Japan does more R&D than any country on the face of the earth. Why doesn't America invest more when it is clear to anyone who steps into a tech store in Japan that they are 5 years ahead of us?
Real reason, the Big 3 has poor business plans, poor communications with the actual customer and market, and they don't have any incentive to fix their money-losing companies.
The fastest way for GM to fix their problems, just go mass produce the EV1 and the EV1 hybrid they made in 1996.
2001 Toyota Rav4 EV fetches a record $89,200 on eBay! {Autoblog Green}
May 27th 2008 3:39AM Joe,
I'm sorry to say that's bull man. Ebay is a contract. That top bidder should pay 89,200. That's the same as going to a dealer and signing a contract for the price of the car only to retract it. There has to be a penalty and at least the top bidder should pay the 20,000 difference if it's going to be awarded to the second highest bidder. All the ebay stuff I've seen cannot retract a bid once you put it in so that comment made by the top bidder's supposed wife is a lie.
Besides even if you could, how do you decide to retract something that you had bid just a few seconds before the expiring of the auction?
I would've loved to bid for that car if it didn't go up so high but hey, if i'm not accountable for what I say I'll pay then I'd love to have put 100000.
I just hope the story will be all clarified in the yahoo list as you have mentioned. At least the ebay auction proves that EVs are in demand one way or another.
Tesla sends out a new production update to customers {Autoblog Green}
May 16th 2008 12:40AM Well when I see one on people's driveways with all the components of drivetrain and gearbox done and in ORDER of reservation then I will think about buying from them. Otherwise I'm waiting for the iMIEV. They lost my trust and many others, now they have to owe up to what they say and gain back the trust. I remain doubtful that they will make it on time without making people mad.
AVFI 2008: Sitting down for a moment with GM's Larry Burns {Autoblog Green}
May 14th 2008 1:12PM Greg B.,
I was going to answer your questions but Rei shot down every one of yours. Nice job Rei.
You yourself have a flaw in your articles. You NEVER mention the actual cost of a hydrogen car! How much do EVs cost vs Hydrogen? Tesla sports car cost 100,000 for 220mile. How much does your beloved "Toyota FCHV (a Highlander Hybrid with a hydrogen fuel cell) gets 480 miles of range" cost? a MILLION or more! In fact it cost one million for a mere 120 miles range hydro car.
And Greg you forget the hydrogen fuel station mimicks the gas station paradigm. That's why automakers are pursuing it. They are pursuing not for the advanced technology of hydro but the unfeasibility of it so we can stay on gas longer. They monopolize the oil pipes and now they want hydrogen to supposedly be green but still have control over pipelines, if hydrogen comes to fruitation. And it is obvious you want your company to succeed at the cost of not developing other alternatives that can be done today like the EV.
You even mentioned SAFETY as a problem for evs when Tesla passed them and no battery fires or leakages were detected did you temporarily become blind? Look up youtube tesla crash tests.
Canada already has electric stations to keep their engines warm all over the place. Like TIM mentioned it is a matter of shifting your gas car habits to an EV one. Canada has an infrastructure ALREADY, inadvertently, made for EVs yet even the Canadian govt won't support EVs. What's your argument now?
You ever heard of Project Better Place in Israel?
Greg you have another problem. You said from wind turbines it is 6 dollars per kilo or same as $3 a gal of gas.
Well the argument holds the same, you NEVER have wind 24 hours a day. You take the highest and most ideal numbers for your argument. So let me do the same for evs. If EVs were powered by solar OR wind it is FREE! It doesn't cost you ANYTHING. You don't need to convert it to anything. You use it directly into your car. NOW listen carefully since you don't seem to understand numbers, which is cheaper FREE or $0 vs $6 per kilo of hydro from wind turbines?
