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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (657)	7/9/2008 9:08:32 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

What you don't seem to understand or are too ignorant to know is that 75% of drivers drive an average of 40 miles or less per day. Sure and if its a 2nd car, they can be just fine with one that will only cover an average, or above average day. But most people don't own multiple vehicles for their own use. If once a week they drive 100 miles, and once a month they drive 200, and once a year they drive 500, they are going to want to do that, and not just under perfect conditions, but with the heater or A/C and defroster on full tilt, and in other conditions and circumstances that would make for lower range for an electric vehicle. If I didn't care about performance and I had a gas vehicle (or hybrid) for longer trips, I could get by with not just an electric car, but with a relatively incapable one (most days if it can go 50mph, and have a range of 10 to 20 miles, it would be enough for my daily commute, and any additional driving). But I do care about performance, and also sometimes I have to drive a lot more than that. The range, low performance, and cost (even just the end user price, let alone if you reasonably consider the subsidies as part of the real cost), of the car, aren't competitive. For someone that cares about performance, my car costs less, can go much further, and has the power to have a top speed about twice as much (it doesn't actually have that top speed because its limited, but the point is the power, people are more likely to accelerate quickly than they are to go near the top speed in a performance car). For those who don't care about performance, you could get a cheap econobox, get good mileage, and better performance, for a third of the price (or for much less if you include cars not for sale in the US) Everybody's second car could be an electric car. Most people don't have second cars, and if your advocating that many more people do so, than your using up a lot of resources to produce all those additional 2nd cars.