Tag Archives: Sport Utility Vehicles

Tesla Model S, The most dangerous car in the world?

If you have ever driven an electric car you know that from 0-30 most if not all are faster that the average American car.

The average sedan or SUV takes about 6 – 8 seconds to go from 0 to 60 from a dead stop, like at a traffic light. But most people don’t accelerate from 0 to 60 from a red light. Most go from 0 to 30 or maybe 45 in the city, where you are likely to encounter pedestrians and vehicles blowing thru the red light because it was yellow and they thought they could make it. Look both ways and count to 2 before going thru.

The only time you go from 0 to 60 is maybe getting on an expressway entrance. Most expressway ramps, today, are designed so even a cheap 4 cylinder car can reach 60 by the time you have to merge on the highway. That’s why the performance given is 0 to 60. Back in the day you wanted to know you could get up to speed getting on the freeway without getting killed.

What 0 to 60 has become today is how cool or bad ass your car is. The faster the time the more street cred your car has. It’s the standard for penis measuring in the auto world. But here the smaller the number the better.

And Tesla actually has one of the lowest 0 to 60 numbers for the lowest price. The P100D with ludicrous mode can go from 0-60 in 2.28 seconds and you can buy it for the low price of about $150k nicely optioned.

The next closest car that can do that is the Porsche 918 Spyder at about $850k

But here is the problem. The Tesla travels at 76.2 feet per second at that rate of acceleration. And unlike a gas powered engine it does it instantly, the second you floor the pedal. The average  human reaction time to visual stimulus is .25 of a second. This car can travel 19 feet before anyone would even notice it moved.

So lets take an all to common scenario today. You have a kid texting on his iPhone while walking towards a street. You have another kid driving a Tesla who thinks it’s really cool to hit the gas (yeah, I know it’s not gas) and get to speed as fast as he can. Do you see where I’m going here?

How about another scenario. You are driving along at 40 MPH while the speed is 45 MPH. You want to change lanes. So you signal and look right to see if it’s safe. Well the Tesla to the right and two car lengths behind can’t see your turn signal, but sees an opportunity to get past you and the slower car ahead. He floors it and wham, right into you he goes.

All this because the Tesla has super powers that gas engine cars don’t have. They make their fastest acceleration on the beginning side of 0 to 60. Gas cars, even the fastest ones don’t hit their highest foot per second speed in a linear rate as they accelerate like a Tesla.

Even a Nissan Leaf goes from 0 to 30 much faster than it goes from 30 to 60. But the odds are someone who drives a Leaf isn’t measuring their Penis, if they have one.

So is the Tesla S the most dangerous car in the world? No, that was pretty much click bait. Just like any other car, it’s only as dangerous as the person behind the wheel. The problem with any car that has super powers, be it the Tesla, Ferrari, Corvette or even Chevette, if you drive like a moron you can do a lot of damage.

The one thing the Tesla has that most other cars don’t, even your standard Chevrolet Camaro or Ford Mustang is the Tesla has Automatic Emergency Braking. The odds are pretty good that the Tesla will actually stop you from killing yourself or someone else if you choose to do something stupid.

And best of all, you don’t have to buy the top of the line Tesla to get really great acceleration. The base Tesla does 0 to 60 in 6 seconds. While a BMW 3 series might do  0 to 60 in about 5 to 6 seconds it doesn’t go 0 to 30 as fast. That’s really where the fun is in city driving.

The Tesla 3 is supposed to do 0 to 60 in 6 seconds and for $35k. The best reason to buy the more expensive Tesla is to get the bigger battery and more range.

Something you might not know about the Tesla. Most of the cars they have to test drive are not the lowest or slowest 0 to 60 model. But, they have a hack where you can limit the performance. Well, why would you do that? Because you don’t want, your kid, neighbor or friend to rip around town in your $100k baby.

If you really want to get that felling of speed from your high performance car with out getting a ticket or getting charged with reckless driving, felony speeding or manslaughter do what most normal responsible drivers do. Go to the track on Track Day or the Drag Strip on Friday night when they let the average person take their cars to the limit. It’s a lot cheaper than a lawyer and doing jail time.

Just like most smart people by now have figured out that’s it’s cheaper to Uber than drink and drive, it’s far cheaper to take your car to the track than drive like your average teenager with a fast car.

Speaking of Uber.

If you have never used Uber. Use the code Z4JRI for $20 off your first ride.

If you are  like me have never used Lyft. Use the code DOGFOOD and get up to $20 off your first ride.

And if you still drive a car that has a Internal Combustion Engine make it more environmentally friendly by using Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants. For more information go to www.BDPSYN.com

Thanks for reading. Leave you comments below and make sure you share and like this post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

 

The Chevrolet Bolt, Buy or Pass.

When you read all the reviews about the Chevrolet Bolt it sounds like nothing we’ve ever seen before. An engineering marvel of the 21st century.

The Chevy Bolt is all of the following:

2017 MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR, 2017 NORTH AMERICAN CAR OF THE YEAR,

2017 GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR®, AWARDED BY GREEN CAR JOURNAL

But probably best of all as far as I am concerned it is,

2017 IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK WHEN EQUIPPED WITH OPTIONAL DRIVER CONFIDENCE II PACKAGE.

Add to that it gets an EPA estimated 238 miles of range on a full charge. Only the Tesla gets as much or more. And the base price of the cheapest Tesla S is almost twice as much as a Chevrolet Bolt.

But it’s not really some engineering marvel or some great design.

As for the design it’s a lot like the Honda Fit. The battery technology is not very special either. It’s just a bigger battery pack (60 kWh) than has been put in any car that size to date.

There are also plenty of cars on the market with backup cameras, parking sensors and traffic alerts and adaptive cruise control. Today you can order them on many cars midrange trim packages.

So why don’t I love the Bolt. Like almost everyone else who finds the marriage of automotive technology and electricity a compelling proposition?  I love that cars are electrifying. I also love that they have cameras, cross traffic alert and a myriad of other features designed to make driving safer. These are now a must on any future vehicle I buy. As is keyless entry and starting. Try doing a car that needs a key to start after doing one that doesn’t.

On the Chevy Bolt you can get all the latest safety and convenience options for a price. You just can’t get comfortable if you are slightly wider than your average 30 year old.

And just like the Tesla there is a trade off between battery technology and fit and finish. You can buy a Porsche Panamera for the same price as a Tesla. The Panamera is far nicer inside and out.

Even at the Premier trim level the Bolt seats are small. The cabin trim is basic as well. But you do get a cheap leather instead of just plastic. I’d feel far more comfortable if they chose to use IKEA to design the interior, sort of like the BMW i3.

The Bolt is a very small car. They say it feels much bigger than it really is. It doesn’t, it looks much bigger than it really is. That’s a big difference. What they really mean is that there is a fair amount of legroom for the back seat compared to your average compact car. That is true. Since the roof doesn’t slope and there is little cargo space unless the seats are folded down it does have more room than the Focus but no more than a Honda Fit. I’d probably buy the Honda Fit.

Like the Chevy Volt, I don’t need to drive this car to know I don’t like it. All I had to do is sit in it. The difference is, in the Volt I like sitting in the drivers seat. If you are a driver it is comfortable. If you ever have to be a back seat passenger and you are over 5′ 6″ you’re probably not going to like it, at all, not even for a 10 minutes drive to get lunch. My 13 year old son was 5′ 6″ last year when I wrote about the Volt 2.0, today he is 6′ 1″ (1 inch taller than I am) and he didn’t like sitting in the back seat of the Volt, back then leg room was an issue. Today he would have the same issue I did as well. You needed to put your head back in the window so the headliner didn’t hit your head.

In the Bolt both of us can sit comfortably, in the back seat. He can sit comfortably in the front seat. His 32″ waist fits fine. My 40″ waist not so much. When I first get in the car and sit down about 2 inches of my butt is hanging off the seat. Then I have to slide right till my right hip hits the side of the seat. The front seat hip room is 2. 3 inches less than the Ford Focus Electric. If you fit in a Honda Fit you will be ok with that as front hip room is almost identical.

For $15k more than the Honda it would have been nice if they had just made the car just a couple of inches wider and a couple of inches longer. Would that have added that much more if anything to the price?

They should have made the car more the size of the Mercedes B250e and less like the Honda Fit or Nissan Leaf.

The Mercedes B250e is by far the nicest Compact BEV I have driven. It’s only drawbacks are the range and it’s only sold in Compliance States.

So should you buy a Chevrolet Bolt? If you want to pay about $44k (before tax incentives with the highest trim and almost every option) for a $20k economy car that has a (according to GM) $8.7k battery pack. No, not if that is the true cost of the battery. That means you are paying a lot for an economy car. Even after the government picks up another $7.5k.

That’s probably why a lot of people are waiting for the Tesla 3 or buying hybrids like the Hyundai Sonata.  O.K., they aren’t buying hybrids, or sedans for that matter. Gas is so cheap that people are once again going down that road to getting stuck with a vehicle that in the future is going to cost them a lot for gas.

The only thing less smart is paying $20k more up front for an electric car that fits in the back of most of the SUV’s or Pickup Trucks out there.

So my recommendation is to take a pass, even though there needs to be people buying these things so that automakers not only continue to build BEV’s but also improve BEVs.

Buying this car for me would be like buying a pair of shoes that is a half size to small. They may not bother you that much at first but give it a few minutes.

Maybe the GM/Lyft partnership will buy lots of them. Although I doubt that’s going to work well. Right now when you call Uber or Lyft you usually get a pretty nice car. Some of the time you get picked up in a compact car. At least right now the odds are I will get picked up in a bigger car. Add lots of Bolts to Lyft and Uber will be my first choice. Actually that’s not fair, I have never used Lyft. I always use Uber.

If you are  like me have never used Lyft. Use the code DOGFOOD and get up to $20 off your first ride.

If you have never used Uber. Use the code Z4JRI for $20 off your first ride.

And if you still drive a car that has a Internal Combustion Engine make it more environmentally friendly by using Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants. For more information go to www.BDPSYN.com

Thanks for reading. Leave you comments below and make sure you share and like this post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Trump, Reagan, Alternative Energy.

Back in Junior High I was a bit of an Alex Keaton (Michael J. Fox) from Family Ties. I wrote a report on how to invest in stock and why Tyco Labs was the place to invest. They had this great technology called a photovoltaic cell. Solar Energy was an idea whose time had finally arrived.

We had just been held hostage by OPEC and people had to wait in lines to buy gas, at was then, record prices of over a dollar a gallon.

Jimmy Carter had put solar panels on the White House to set an example of how we could start on our way to energy independence.

Then Ronald Reagan got elected. There was no way that in his America we were going to conserve. We drive big cars, heat and cool our houses to whatever extreme we want. We are a big and powerful nation and can afford to waste as much as we want. And for the next 30 plus years that’s exactly what we did. Only communists suffer shortages.

Bush gave tax breaks to people who bought Hummers. And lots of people did. You still see a few of them around today. But they don’t make them anymore. They went by the wayside when many American Automakers went bankrupt.

American Automakers also gave up a lot of marketshare to Japanese automakers in the 80’s. Because like most commodities that don’t have competition the price of gas just kept going up. And that drove people to buy the smaller, better built more fuel efficient imports.

But for those who study history we can often find examples of history repeating itself.

So lets go back just a few years. After a major recession the US elected one of those un-American leaders. The kind that doesn’t believe in American Supremacy and actually promoted the notion that once again Americans should conserve energy, invest in alternative energy and have a lofty goal of getting 1 million electric cars on the road in just a few years.

But the first order of business was bailing out American Automakers. Something Reagan did with Chrysler back in the 1980’s now had to be done again 30 years later. Because we forgot that gas can get pretty expensive and building lots of big cars that get crappy gas milage hurts the economy when gas hit’s $3 a gallon. And when the only cars on your lot don’t sell anymore bankruptcy is a given.

Well, the economy recovered because we have cheap gas once again. Or at least we perceive it as cheap because once you hit $3 a gallon $2 looks really cheap. Almost as cheap as $1 where gas hit at the height of the recession. I’ll bet if gas hits $3 now people will still perceive it as being pretty cheap.

So now after 8 years of that commie socialist we have once again elected a President who acknowledges the Supremacy of the United States of America.

His first order of business is to incentivize 19th century technology. Make coal great again. His second order of business was to make sure we can burn lots of fossil fuel. Keep it cheap so people can burn lots of it. There can’t be an iceberg hiding below the surface using that strategy. No,literally. All the icebergs are melting. Deny that this strategy has environmental consequences at all costs. Science is suspect. What do scientists know anyway.

And worst of all spreading the myth that restrictions on environmental pollution makes us uncompetitive in the world.

Trump is Reagan revisited. And I don’t mean that in a positive way.

This time the world is no longer looking for Americans to lead the way. We are way behind the power curve on implementing alternative energy.

Unlike the United States or China most of Europe and the UK does not have vast areas of unpopulated land mass. Most of France, Italy, Germany and the U.K.  have lots of people in very small areas. Their pollution problems are like ours of California prior to Nixon and The EPA or those pesky California Emission Standards.

Other countries are actually investing in technology to get off of fossil fuels. German automakers that were first pushed by Tesla and further pushed by their own greed and cheating emission rules with their diesel cars are now going all out on developing Electric Vehicles. Add that to their growing supply of solar power and other countries are leading the way into the 21st Century. Not the U.S.A.

What are American Automakers doing? Building as many SUV’s and Pickup Trucks they can churn out. And that is pretty much a sign that although many Americans feel that the economy still sucks that it really doesn’t. Poor people don’t buy $70k Automobiles, or do they? Well poor people don’t, but having a $1k a month payment and another $150 or more a month going to Mobil or BP can sure as heck make you feel like your broke. Especially if you have 2 of these in your driveway. Let gas hit $3 or $4 a gallon again and it won’t take long before another recession hits.

Another fallacy is that regulations make products cost more. Well let’s go back to the 1980’s. Factories used to just dispose of certain waste from production, much of it in small particles like the sawdust from mills.

Well there was this company called Torrit Donaldson. You might know who they are. They make filters for your car among other things.

They would also design collection systems that collect sawdust among other things. Now instead of these particulates being dumped in the air and garbage they make particle board and other products from them.

Both the mill and the filter maker, make money. Long term results are better. That’s how jobs and new technologies get created. Not by doubling down on burning toxins. Too bad Wall Street doesn’t care beyond the next quarter

So is their a silver lining in this Trump cloud?

Well just like the 1980’s businesses will continue to look for ways to make more money and people will continue to ask for innovation.

Tesla proved that you can make a compelling Electric Car. Germany and the U.K. have proven that solar and wind are competitive with nuclear and coal when you factor in the external costs that we in the U.S. don’t account for.

The only real question is will politics get in the way of the U.S.A. becoming a leader or will be relegated to the position of follower?

Will American Car Makers once again, for the third time misjudge where the market is headed. Maybe that’s why Tesla has a higher market cap than Ford or G.M.

One that it really doesn’t deserve as Tesla makes less cars in a year than the other automakers make in a week.

If only there was a military reason to develop alternative energy. When the Russians were beating us in space we moved heaven and earth to get their first.

And much of the technology that got us into space is driving most of the technology we have today. It’s not like we hadn’t given the Germans the lead in technology before. It took a World War to give us the drive to outsmart them as well.

I doubt beating ISIS will require a new modern energy that was easy to deploy almost anywhere.

Actually now that I think about it. What if we dropped a few solar panels connected to a battery that could power a radio or two and maybe some type of modern convenience that we could broadcast the truth to every village or town where the electricity infrastructure has been bombed out?

 

 

Tesla Stock Down! Cheap Gas Kills EV Car Sales, or Does It?

Will lower gas prices have a large effect on EV sales?

To a certain extent but there is a way that car makers could diminish the cheap gas advantage.

The Tesla has never been a car whose sales have been driven by high fuel prices. It’s appeal has been in performance and technology as well as status and muted luxury.

Anybody who has driven an EV loves the real world acceleration. By real world I mean 0-30. The burst of energy to change lanes or get on the freeway.

The average car takes much longer from a full stop to 30 MPH than an EV. From 30-60 it’s about the same time but the gasoline car spend from 30-60 catching up.

0-60 in 4 seconds is nice but in an ICE car that requires tens of thousands of dollars and an average MPG of around 12 MPG everyday to do that the very fews times you need that power. You just don’t need or can’t really enjoy your 700HP vehicle as much as you would like to.

Your 2 seat loud and obnoxious sports cars are the proverbial 12 inch penis. Impressive looking but not to many places that can handle all of it.

The only place cars like those have any use other than getting you a superficial mate are on the track. And they are actually more likely to get you tickets than they are a mate if you are not that good looking anyway that you need to buy the car to have women look at you.

Add to that most people with cars like that never take them to a track like many Jeep or 4×4 owners never take them off road and you have probably explained why most Americans think they are broke and don’t like to pay taxes.

Car makers have to stop only building tiny compact EV’s as well. While they might get the job done they aren’t impressive at all, don’t tell me that size doesn’t matter. Small might be able to fit in any parking spot but only the city dweller sees that as an advantage.  We don’t live in Europe.

Most Americans don’t fit in a Smart EV or Fiat EV.  We are large people. Many of us are over 6 feet tall and many are over 200 pounds. Or both. We need cars we fit in.

In order to get more people into the cars they need to be real world cars. The e-Golf and Mercedes B-Class are a nice start but they are still too expensive for only having 80 miles of range.

The new cars being announced with 200 mile ranges will start selling if you really build enough and sell them outside of the few CARB States.

They will outsell the Chevy Volt which still isn’t a 5 passenger car. The rear leg room is still to small. And the battery down the middle is just as bad as the Ford and their batteries across the truck or cargo bay. They will not find many new buyers. They will just keep many of the buyers they have. Unless they change to a flat battery pack under the floor.

The greatest thing about owning an EV, or even a Hybrid,  is rarely or ever having to stop to buy gas. Even if the price of gas is $1 per gallon. The approximate equilibrium price of gas to electricity as fuel for cars.

It really is nice to come home at night and just plug in your car instead of having to wait in line and pump gas.

The worst part now about driving any car is filling up the gas tank. It’s rare that I ever get the gas station to myself. Then after waiting in line for 5-10 minutes, I have to get out, swipe my card and spend 5 minutes looking at the guy next to me that cut in front or committed some breach of gas station etiquette.

With an EV you just pull into the garage, plug in and walk into the house and go about your normal business. You wouldn’t even think of buying a phone where you had to go to the store and buy new batteries every few days. Then through the dead batteries on the street like the emissions form your tail pipe.

With the advent of the 100 mile plus battery, which is enough for most peoples daily commute, that will be shortly followed by the 200 mile battery, the plug it in at night car that can work for 100% of your daily driving needs will be all you really need.

Add to that, no more oil changes, tune ups and all those other regular maintenance items that an internal combustion engine car has and you will be hooked.

That doesn’t even included all the environmental benefits.

A 200 mile range, 5 seats and a price tag of $30k in a sporty car like a VW Golf or Kia Soul might just be what it takes to get this evolution in transportation to catch on.

It will be interesting to see how Tesla responds to these challengers that are now taking the 200 mile advantage away from Tesla.

I don’t think it will be long before my 12 year old son looks at driving a gasoline powered vehicle like he does someone smoking a cigarette. We know smoking is hazardous to your health and does cause cancer. The same thing is true of ICE vehicles.

We are just not willing to admit it yet as we love our cars.

The automakers are just starting to give us EV’s we can love.

Thanks Elon. You’re the guy who got this party started. Hopefully you keep leading the way and not letting the Big 3 kill the EV like G.M. did in the past.

I don’t think the big automakers are going to rest unless you stumble and fall.

I don’t think Apple and Google will really be a threat to the Big 3 like Tesla. For some reason you’ve got them really scared even though you only build less than 10’000 cars a month.

I might just have to buy Tesla stock now that it back down to the Moon instead of Mars, a place you want to go. Once the price comes back down to Earth people wont think your shooting for the stars.

 

 

 

 

Mazda MX-5 ND or Tesla X?

With the release of the new Tesla X why a I writing about the lowly gas powered Mazda MX-5 also known as the Miata?

Well, today I attended a Ride and Drive that Mazda invited me to. I’m not sure how I got on the list but since I own a 1999 Miata and a Mazda 6 as well as having  owned a 2011 Miata the odds are pretty good I’m on a mailing list somewhere.

The event was not well attended. In the 2 days and 12 hours they had about 160 people according to a couple of the employees I asked. BMW gets almost 10 times that number at their Ride and Drive events.

That could be because BMW lets people drive all their cars. The MX-5 has a small but very loyal following.

But the reason I am writing this isn’t because I think the Miata is a great car. It is. What it isn’t is an Electric Car.

Since I have owned my Ford Focus Electric car I am pretty much spoiled. EV’s are a just more fun. If what you want is instant performance and a fun driving experience you really need to go out and test drive one of the many Electric Vehicles out there.

Not a Hybrid like the Prius or Honda Accord where the electric motor is an afterthought but a car where the electric motor is the primary source of power. One where the gas motor, if it has one charges the batteries and you get all that instant torque.

There are quite a few today and many being added in the near future.

While most of us mortals can’t afford a Tesla and it’s Insane Mode along with its insane price there are many EV’s now days for less than 30k and even lest than 25k after tax breaks.

Walk in to your Chevy Dealer and try the Volt. Don’t like Chevrolet. Ford has the C-Max and Fusion Energy as well as the all electric Focus.

BMW. The i8 and i3.

While Volkswagen might not be trustworthy with their diesel technology they do have the eGolf. Maybe they will release their hybrid Golf in the States soon now that they can’t sell their diesels.

In the next few years even with cheap gas people will learn that electric cars are fun. They have lower costs to maintain and 90% of the time you will never burn gas in the Extended Range models.

If you are in the market for a new car give one a try. If you are in the market for a used car many are now hitting the used market and at ver reasonable prices.

Don’t try one because they are the environmentally responsible option. Try one because they are fun. Lots of fun. So much fun I have a Mazda for sale. Maybe two.

My next car will be a Telsa 3, That is unless there is another car make that can make an electric car I really like. Something like a Mazda 6 even a eGolf with a 200 mile range with a 35k or less price tag. At that price I wouldn’t even need a tax break. Just those HOV Plates.

 

Boy was I wrong says the USA Today

The other day I posted about how Americans wont be fooled again, buying gas guzzling SUV’s because fuel prices are at a relative historic low, as are wages.

But instead of being proven right I read an article just days later that we are not buying hybrids or high gas milage vehicles but once again the sales of SUV’s are on the rise in the  April 22 USA Today “Earth Day or not, hybrids take a hit”.

The article states that many electric or hybrid owners are less likely to trade their current vehicles in for another hybrid but would get an SUV instead.

The article goes on to say that “For better or worse, it looks like many hybrid and EV owners are driven more by financial motives rather than a responsibility to the environment,” says edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis.

Although the impact on the environment does have a cost though we choose not to quantify it. It’s an unaccounted for externality that makes the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Vehicles look cheaper than they actually are.

I question who the sample size or who these vehicle owners are.  Just a look around the streets and highways of Phoenix, Arizona (where I live) you will see lots of hybrids. And many of those are older cars from the first generation Prius as well.

From the looks of things, hybrid owners don’t replace their cars that often. In the last year, as well, I have seen many new model (2014+) hybrids on the road. My mother just bought one, a 2015 Prius V. So in my opinion, any car company that forgoes hybrids and BEV’s or PHEV’s and builds lots of SUV’s is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past that allowed Japanese car makers to take much of the US market share that they retain to this day.

As long as car makers let fuel prices decide what they build instead of sound long term strategies the shortsighted idea of current fuel prices staying low forever will lead car makers off the cliff of bankruptcy over and over.

Efficient cars should lead fuel prices lower instead of low fuel prices leading to cars that consume more fuel which has historically lead to higher fuel prices.

Innovation leads to success. Henry Ford was an auto industry innovator. Maybe the last one. Why? Because many of the innovations of the auto industry in the last 50 years were forced on them by regulation. Seat Belts, MPG requirements just to name a couple biggies. For the most part the auto industry is like your grand parents. Dragged into the next century kicking and screaming if they don’t die first.

The article also states that GM has temporarily halted production of the Volt. Well, considering they announced that next year they will have the Volt 2.0 that’s going to be significantly better, who’s going to pay full price for last years technology. They might as well keep dropping the price till the last buyer wants it so cheap it makes more sense to donate them to a charity for the tax break.

People who can pay full price for an iPhone don’t go running out once the timeframe for the new iPhone is near. Which is why Steve Jobs kept the next big thing a big secret till it was ready for sale.

And while car dealers give rebates and incentives on last years model all the time cars like the Volt will be much more sensitive to new model announcements. Many of the people buying these cars want the latest and greatest tech. This will also become more common on all cars as things like blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control and a host of many other technologies become more prevalent in cars of all trim levels.

The USA Today article also talks about dismal sales of Plug in Toyota hybrids being down 61%. That might have something to do with the fact that it’s hard to find one on a dealers lot if you don’t live in a CARB State.

Toyota only sold their Rav4 EV in California. Yet I personally know 3 people who bought one and brought it back to Arizona. They love that SUV. Even though it’s sort of a bastardized RAV4.

Honda only sold their Fit EV in AZ for a very short time and then only leased them. And then discontinued making then shortly there after.

I’m not sure car dealers like EV’s much, especially BEV’s as they require so little maintenance. A large profit center for dealers.

When I was car shopping with my mother earlier this year their were no plug in Prius’s to be found in Arizona. How can someone buy one when dealers don’t have them to sell?

And when I went shopping for my Ford Focus Electric (FFE), you couldn’t find any of those in Arizona either. At least  The dealers sold them all 20 minutes after they hit the lot. I had to go to California to buy mine. And the economics made sense. And they still make sense as gas prices are actually 15% higher than the day I bought it. The price of gas would have to go to 70 cents a gallon to equal the price of electricity per mile. And since most of the electricity produced at night is from nuclear the amount of carbon per mile is much lower.

The tags in AZ for the equivalent Ford Focus are $500 for the first year. The cost of the tags for my Focus, $60 for 5 years. Access to the HOV lane. I would say you can’t put a price on that but you actually can. There are people who can no longer get a HOV access plate with a new hybrid car who are leasing plates from prior Prius owners for $1000 per year.

If people are buying SUV’s and trading in their hybrids it has nothing to do with the economics. It has more to do with the emotions.

Hybrids for the most part are pretty boring and very utilitarian. The Toyota Prius does make a great Taxicab though. It has a very large back seat with lots of legroom.

The fact that hybrids are so boring is why Tesla is so successful. Their cars, while quite expensive are actually fun to drive. They don’t handle like a box truck. They aren’t the bottom of the line trim levels. But the VW Golf E, The Kia Soul E and Ford Focus E are actually very nice cars as well and at the top trim levels can be had for less than 30k after the tax credit.

Had Ford not dropped the price of the FFE to 32k and the dealer not also dropped another 2k off the price I would have probably bought a Volkswagen Golf Electric. Another car maker who chose to go top of the line trim instead of bottom of the line trim. Just like the FFE. That’s what swayed me away from the Leaf. In order to have the price make sense the only Leaf would have been the S or bottom trim level.

One other thing car makers need to do, not just in their EV vehicles but all vehicles is stop selling expensive Nav packages with old useless tech. Almost everybody today has a smartphone. All they need to do is put the necessary interfaces for people to use their smartphones. At least Tesla chose to make their tech an improvement on current display tech vs using 3 or 4 year old tech in the average new car.

Like 15 or 20 years ago nobody new they wanted let alone needed a smartphone and that they would become as ubiquitous as watches were just 20-70 years ago. In 10-20 years the Electric Vehicle that primarily drives itself, will be the new iPhone. All it takes is some leadership and vision from an industry that has a dismal track record of predicting the future.

Elon Musk will be seen as the next Steve Jobs but just like Apple it took companies like Google, Samsung and LG to join in on the road to the future we now know. Maybe it’s time those companies take their huge stockpiles of cash and start building cars while the current car companies fade into the sunset and stop perpetuating the myth that bring hydrocarbons is good for the planet.

While GM got it’s bailout, like Chrysler before it, this will probably not be the last time we see a big automaker in need of a financial lifeline. It’s time they stopped being pretending to be experts. The last thing they need to do is build the next Hummer. If they can’t lead they need to follow or just get the hell out of the way.

This time if we support innovators with the bailout money instead we can transform our society into the future sooner rather than later.