Auto companies to bring back electric cars nobody wanted

[Little-Acorn]

Years ago, auto companies were forced by government to produce a few all-electric cars. They were inefficient, with limited speed and range, and very few people bought or leased them. As soon as the govt mandates went away, the companies stopped making them, and even destroyed the ones they had left.

Now, auto companies are talking about bringing back similar cars. Batteries are improved, but they still can't go very far on a charge. And when the batteries go flat, it takes from half an hour to several hours to recharge them.

And the article makes one frankly astonishing announcement about these new electric cars: If you buy an electric car, you have to also buy a normal gasoline-powered car in addition to it, to get the capability you've had up until now!

And that announcement is made with a straight face.

Only in America...... :lol: :lol:

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/27/MN0B174G40.DTL&type=autos

All-electric cars about to be resurrected

Michael Taylor, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, April 27, 2009

The all-electric car, which had a brief heyday less than a decade ago and then went the way of the dodo, killed off by the car companies, is about to make a comeback.

Charged up with lighter, more sophisticated and efficient batteries, and competitively priced with gasoline-driven and hybrid vehicles, the new offers will be marketed and sold primarily as second cars - for running errands, taking kids to school and the like. These silent electric autos will be plugged into home outlets at night and during the day will be able to travel 100 miles or more without stopping for a charge.

Nissan said recently it has developed a mas-market electric car, due out by the end of next year, that will seat five and can have its battery charged to 80 percent of capacity in 26 minutes. It will have all the amenities car buyers want, Nissan says, such as navigation, super stereo and heated seats, and will cost between $20,000 and $30,000.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Years ago, auto companies were forced by government to produce a few all-electric cars. They were inefficient, with limited speed and range, and very few people bought or leased them. As soon as the govt mandates went away, the companies stopped making them, and even destroyed the ones they had left.

You're not a big fan of (any) actual-research, are you?




"Who Killed The Electric Car?"​

 

[Andy]

You're not a big fan of (any) actual-research, are you?




"Who Killed The Electric Car?"​

Which is a joke. GM stopped making electric cars because they were losing money on them. If you did any research and thinking for yourself, you'd know that, instead of being a lame parrot of what others have said.

Not to mention all the other EVs that were killed too.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Which is a joke. GM stopped making electric cars because they were losing money on them.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, Skippy.

That's why they saw more sense in shredding the EV1s.....rather-than selling them to the folks who were leasing them.

With decisions, like that, it's no wonder GM is such an auto-production powerhouse.

​

 

[Andy]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, Skippy.

That's why they saw more sense in shredding the EV1s.....rather-than selling them to the folks who were leasing them.

With decisions, like that, it's no wonder GM is such an auto-production powerhouse.

​

That was the whole point, skippy. They were not making money on selling them. Why do you think GM wasn't doing well? They invested way to much money in crappy non-profitable projects. Like the PUMA deal. What a waste.


Further, you tend to not try and sell cars you can't afford to warranty. Did you ever look up how much it cost GM to produce each car? Did you look up the cost of battery replacements? Did you look up the cost of high powered home chargers?

GM lost big cash over the EV1s.

Here's another questions for you to make stupid snide remarks about. Can you explain with your "GM killed EV" theories, why then did Toyota and Honda both kill their EVs? Did the evil GM fly to Japan and force other auto makers to kill their EVs?

It was a cash loser all around. The cheapest thing to do was sell off the expensive parts of the EV1s and shread everything else.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

They were not making money on selling them.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....but, they were making more (on them), by shredding them & selling them per-pound, huh?

Yeah....that makes more sense, yet.

​

 

[samsara15]

Our son wanted to buy a Prius for himself, but we talked him out of it, because we wern't sure that the technology was mature enough to make it a safe buy.

 

[BigRob]

Does anyone remember the British auto industry before it collapsed? That is the road we are on.

 

[Andy]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....but, they were making more (on them), by shredding them & selling them per-pound, huh?

Yeah....that makes more sense, yet.

​

You don't grasp the idea of warranty?

Let's think this through a bit. The EV1, if I remember right, came out in total, to be around $100K per car, and that's just production cost. So that money is gone no matter what. The cost of the lease was only $350 per month. A three-year lease would only bring in the company $12,600.

Well they should have let the people keep the ones they already built!

Not so. If the EV1s had been left out there for their full lease, until the warranty is up, the company would have footed the bill for replacement batteries, replacement chargers, and expensive on-call service.

More than a dozen MagnaChargers, the wall mounted EV1 charging stations, went out. Each one had a replacement cost over $2,000. That's thousands of dollars lost on a car that was a money loser to begin with. Then the replacement battery packs that were $50K.

So yes, taking out the expensive batteries and selling them, and taking out the expensive motors and selling them, and shredding the rest, was a heck of a lot more profitable than leaving them out on leases.

Not to mention that every EV1 on the road would raise demand for more EV1s that were losing the company money. GM knew that by having them on the market, people would assume they were profitable, and keep demanding them. Yet who would pay even the MSRP price of $44,000 for a two seater with no trunk that had a max range of 100 miles and required a whole night to charge? No one is going to pay that much for a car that limited. And even if they did, the company still lost money on each one.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Does anyone remember the British auto industry before it collapsed? That is the road we are on.

Yeah.....(absolutely) everyone misses the Austin-Healey (and, those never-ending maintenance-exercises)!!

DAMN those Japanese-electronics!!!

​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

So yes, taking out the expensive batteries and selling them, and taking out the expensive motors and selling them, and shredding the rest, was a heck of a lot more profitable than leaving them out on leases.

.....Not-to-mention denying anyone-else the benefits of GM's R&D efforts (the nod to Big Oil).......Priority 1!!!!!!!!!!

​

 

[Andy]

.....Not-to-mention denying anyone-else the benefits of GM's R&D efforts (the nod to Big Oil).......Priority 1!!!!!!!!!!

​

What the heck are you talking about? First of all, no company releases their R&D, unless someone buys it off them. If you have investments in GM, like say stock in your 401K, would you want them blowing millions on R&D and just releasing it publically? Of course not. Unless you are an idiot perhaps.

Further, you don't think that the R&D they acculated from that experiment wasn't used in the current Volt project? Of course it is.

How about you start thinking before speaking. You are coming across about as brilliant as a 5th grader. "BIG OIL!" oh please... grow up. GM would sell a car made of Tin Foil Ducktape, and peanut butter if they could make money on it, and get people to buy it. "BIG OIL!" had nothing to do with it.

 

[BigRob]

Yeah.....(absolutely) everyone misses the Austin-Healey (and, those never-ending maintenance-exercises)!!

DAMN those Japanese-electronics!!!

​

How about the Aston Martin? Every good car company they had was bought by foreigners after government bailouts and interventions. We are on the same path.

 

[top gun]

Years ago, auto companies were forced by government to produce a few all-electric cars. They were inefficient, with limited speed and range, and very few people bought or leased them. As soon as the govt mandates went away, the companies stopped making them, and even destroyed the ones they had left.

Now, auto companies are talking about bringing back similar cars. Batteries are improved, but they still can't go very far on a charge. And when the batteries go flat, it takes from half an hour to several hours to recharge them.

And the article makes one frankly astonishing announcement about these new electric cars: If you buy an electric car, you have to also buy a normal gasoline-powered car in addition to it, to get the capability you've had up until now!

And that announcement is made with a straight face.

Only in America...... :lol: :lol:

This is a very different world then it was between 1997 and 2000 when just over 1000 GM EV1's were produced.

There was not a great demand because it was new developing technology (almost a technology test thing) not a marketed solid production attempt. With anything this drastically different it's a step by step process until you get the bugs out... and the oil companies doing everything they possibly could to get them squashed before that happened made sure that didn't happen.

This was before the hybrid scene really caught fire with the Prius and many Americans are way more ready now to have the security of knowing that insane gas price spikes can't effect things as basic as just getting back & forth to work.

We know even more about effects to the environment and pollution has always been an issue. We have seen again how any unrest around OPEC countries is a problem and we've again seen huge almost crippling gas price spikes. We have not only vastly better battery technology but also have seen an expanding array of hybrid vehicles.

It's very simple, the US can Lead... Follow... or Get Out Of Way. I personally want US car companies to be positioned like Toyota was with the Prius for the next crazy gas price spike. It looks like Chrysler is on board with it's merger with Fiat wanting Fiats more advanced small engine technology program estimated to be worth 8 to 10 billion dollars.

Chrysler CEO: Fiat technology worth $8B to $10B
Mar 16, 2009
Peter C. T. Elsworth

DETROIT -- If Chrysler and Fiat Group join forces, Chrysler would get technology and other items worth $8 billion to $10 billion, Chrysler's chief executive said Monday, according to The Associated Press.

Chrysler has a tentative deal with Fiat that would give the Italian automaker a 35 percent stake in Chrysler in exchange for mainly small-engine and small-car technology


And new cars soon to hit market like the Chevy Volt can go 40 to 60 miles without a drop of gas... and then automatically switch over to an economical gas engine.

The long term key here is to develop and make available a mix of different technologies. This stretching of oil supplies is a smart move. It actually frees up gasoline for those who continue to drive gas powered cars.

This is just forward thinking... and that's a good thing!

But anyway... here's the advancement of the American electric car story...

 

[n0spam4me]

Anybody ever hear of TESLA motors?

If I had the spare change, I'd buy one in an instant!

The only thing it needs is a change of body to make it look like a mundane mini-van so its not a cop magnet.