Comments on: Mitsubishi Unexpectedly Raises Price of the i EV http://inhabitat.com/mitsubishi-unexpectedly-raises-price-of-the-i-ev/ Green design & eco innovation for a better world Thu, 23 May 2013 21:03:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: lazyreader http://inhabitat.com/mitsubishi-unexpectedly-raises-price-of-the-i-ev/comment-page-1/#comment-353087 lazyreader Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:51:03 +0000 http://inhabitat.com/?p=299169#comment-353087 Inconvenience, tax subsidized electric cars are such an inconvenience to tax payers. A 7,500 dollar deduction can buy you a used car. Current generation electric cars are seen by many as a sorta 'eff' you to the oil companies and their supposed profits. Lets look at those profits. In 2005, oil companies in America earned a net profit of 65 billion dollars in oil revenues. In the same year the federal government "earned" 71 billion in gasoline taxes ( a derivative fraction of oil). Where does the federal government get off spending the average person's tax dollars to help better-off-than-average Americans buy expensive new cars? The government borrows and spends on behalf of its population. Then bailed out private companies like AIG, JP Morgen, and General Motors. The government transfers private company debts to public. The tax payers will be hooked for paying off private company debts, businesses we may never wanted to do business with in the first place. That's not the free market, the free market would have let those companies fail as they should have. When a consulting firm interviewed industry experts and 2,000 potential buyers, it found that from now until 2020, only "young, very high income individuals"; those from households making more than $200,000 a year, would even be interested in plug-in hybrids or all-electric cars. This "small number" of people will provide "nowhere near the volume needed for mass adoption." They will be concentrated in Southern California, where weather, state regulations, and infrastructure are all favorable to electric vehicles and took a lot of regulation and federal and state start up money. Of course the adoption is already being popularized by high-profile celebrities. Annual sales will hit no more than 465,000 by 2020 according to experts, a drop in the bucket of the 250 million nationwide automotive fleet. There's 2.4 billion in stimulus money for electric-car component factories, such as a Volt battery plant in Holland, Michigan. The Energy Department has loaned hundreds of millions of dollars to Ford, Nissan, GM, Tesla, and Fisker. Ramp up production of the electric car's most expensive component, the battery, and its price will come down to mass-market levels. Economies of scale, and all that. It's worked for other past luxury products, like cell phones and laptops; compared to mass-producing batteries for phones and computers, cars are far more difficult. Never mind the fact for the most part, phone and computer industries grew with private, not public, capital at risk and there were dozens of Silicon Valley failures in the 90's; we are fortunate no public funds was wasted on them. Global battery production capacity far exceeds demand for them, present and projected, with the biggest excesses forecast for Japan and the United States. With economists fears of a battery "Bubble" with the next 5 years. When it does, factory workers in Michigan will be back out on the street unless companies successfully lobby for another federal bailout. Several studies have found, however, that introduction of plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles will probably not reduce overall U.S. fuel consumption in the short run, and may even increase it slightly. A report by Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs found that "strong income tax credits for the purchase of new diesel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles are essentially ineffective at reducing CO2 emissions from transportation. Inconvenience, tax subsidized electric cars are such an inconvenience to tax payers. A 7,500 dollar deduction can buy you a used car. Current generation electric cars are seen by many as a sorta ‘eff’ you to the oil companies and their supposed profits. Lets look at those profits. In 2005, oil companies in America earned a net profit of 65 billion dollars in oil revenues. In the same year the federal government “earned” 71 billion in gasoline taxes ( a derivative fraction of oil). Where does the federal government get off spending the average person’s tax dollars to help better-off-than-average Americans buy expensive new cars? The government borrows and spends on behalf of its population. Then bailed out private companies like AIG, JP Morgen, and General Motors. The government transfers private company debts to public. The tax payers will be hooked for paying off private company debts, businesses we may never wanted to do business with in the first place. That’s not the free market, the free market would have let those companies fail as they should have.

When a consulting firm interviewed industry experts and 2,000 potential buyers, it found that from now until 2020, only “young, very high income individuals”; those from households making more than $200,000 a year, would even be interested in plug-in hybrids or all-electric cars. This “small number” of people will provide “nowhere near the volume needed for mass adoption.” They will be concentrated in Southern California, where weather, state regulations, and infrastructure are all favorable to electric vehicles and took a lot of regulation and federal and state start up money. Of course the adoption is already being popularized by high-profile celebrities. Annual sales will hit no more than 465,000 by 2020 according to experts, a drop in the bucket of the 250 million nationwide automotive fleet.

There’s 2.4 billion in stimulus money for electric-car component factories, such as a Volt battery plant in Holland, Michigan. The Energy Department has loaned hundreds of millions of dollars to Ford, Nissan, GM, Tesla, and Fisker. Ramp up production of the electric car’s most expensive component, the battery, and its price will come down to mass-market levels. Economies of scale, and all that. It’s worked for other past luxury products, like cell phones and laptops; compared to mass-producing batteries for phones and computers, cars are far more difficult. Never mind the fact for the most part, phone and computer industries grew with private, not public, capital at risk and there were dozens of Silicon Valley failures in the 90′s; we are fortunate no public funds was wasted on them.

Global battery production capacity far exceeds demand for them, present and projected, with the biggest excesses forecast for Japan and the United States. With economists fears of a battery “Bubble” with the next 5 years. When it does, factory workers in Michigan will be back out on the street unless companies successfully lobby for another federal bailout.

Several studies have found, however, that introduction of plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles will probably not reduce overall U.S. fuel consumption in the short run, and may even increase it slightly. A report by Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs found that “strong income tax credits for the purchase of new diesel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles are essentially ineffective at reducing CO2 emissions from transportation.

]]> By: caeman http://inhabitat.com/mitsubishi-unexpectedly-raises-price-of-the-i-ev/comment-page-1/#comment-353084 caeman Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:57:08 +0000 http://inhabitat.com/?p=299169#comment-353084 As I read it, the tax credit is now given to the dealer, who is then expected to lower the price of the car by that $7,500. Are the dealers actually be honest and lowering the prices by $7,500, or are they throwing in a token drop of $2k to $5k and pocketing the difference? As I read it, the tax credit is now given to the dealer, who is then expected to lower the price of the car by that $7,500. Are the dealers actually be honest and lowering the prices by $7,500, or are they throwing in a token drop of $2k to $5k and pocketing the difference?

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