The car industry today is a mess to say the least…. General Motors on the verge of imploding, Chrysler in the works and Ford not far behind. There is so much to say about this news, I’m going to spare you because if you have not heard it by now….. Good for you! Back to the topic at hand Electric Cars. The reason I even brought up the Big Three disaster is, I want your opinion if this going to help or hurt future inovation and production of hybrid and electric cars? I dont have the magic crystal ball so I can’t tell you for sure but my job is to present some facts of what is happening with car manufactures around the world.
GM has a ton riding on the new Chevrolet Volt due to arrive in 2010, if they make that far. For reference this is a true plug-in electric car that has a range of less then 40 miles on a single charge and a max speed of 12o mph. I have to admit, just from the videos, it is a great looking automobile. GM had several problems with the introduction of this car and keep delaying the date. At this point, no one knows when we will see the new Volt. Also, with a $40,000 dollar price tag, it my be hard to compete.
Toyota, currently leading the hybrid market in sales, plans to introduce the new Plug-In Prius in spring 09. Toyota has been very low key with the introduction of this car, from the reports I have read, it can go 7 miles and up to 62mph before the gasoline engine kicks in. The best part is you can accelerate up to half throttle before hearing the engine, this enables the possibility of short commutes using only electric power. The downfall…. it looks like any other Prius, I would liked to seen a body change or something sleeker.
In a completely different league is Telsa Motors. They make a all electric Roadster that is capable of 0-60 in 3.4 seconds and has a range of 244 miles. This car is with out a doubt as cool as the get but only if you have $104,000 to spare. The point of including this company in my article is the technology is here, electric cars can have speed and range…….. the problem is price. The technology is currently Very Expensive.
The answer….. just may lie with a very small company out of Shanghai China named BYD Co., which stands for “build your dreams”. I can see why they choose just BYD, anyway this small private battery company has turned to making automobiles. The vehicle has a range of 62 miles on electric power and is capable of switching to a small back up engine when power gets low. It will fully charge in nine hours from a standard electric outlet or much faster with a BYD charging station. This new vehicle drew the attention of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invested in a 9.9 stake in BYD. The car will sell for about $22,000 and hopes to debut in the U.S. once the safety standards are worked out.
As Always I leave the question to the consumer….. the one with the greenbacks…. Will the decline of the Big Three have any bering in the mass production of the electric car? Will other Non-US manufactures pick up the ball and run with it? Or will we need the US auto industry to help this dream become more of a mass reality?
Brad “The Hybrid Guy”
Tags: Electric Autos, Plug-in Prius, Volt
