Hit 'em Where it Hurts
Defeating terrorism doesn't require a slickly packaged war or decades of nation building (with unpredictable results), and we don't need puppet regimes or evil bed fellows to secure our national interests in the Middle East. What these things require is for us to get off the oil.
Ah, my cynical friend... yes, it is that simple.
And here, just in time, is the Tesla Roadster -- which makes my heart go from 0 to 60 in four seconds, even at it's wildly unaffordable price. The point is that the technology is available and the product is good. With some of that famous American ingenuity and rolled-out mass production, this type of alternative car could be available to the majority of us within a few years.
Why in the name of all that's holy would Ford, our oldest and sickliest American car company, not rebuild itself on new technology and become a profitable force for national good? As opposed to the omnipotent billion dollar oil companies that propagate our national problems year after year while bleeding us all dry for only their benefit.
Ah, my cynical friend... yes, it is that simple.
And here, just in time, is the Tesla Roadster -- which makes my heart go from 0 to 60 in four seconds, even at it's wildly unaffordable price. The point is that the technology is available and the product is good. With some of that famous American ingenuity and rolled-out mass production, this type of alternative car could be available to the majority of us within a few years.
Why in the name of all that's holy would Ford, our oldest and sickliest American car company, not rebuild itself on new technology and become a profitable force for national good? As opposed to the omnipotent billion dollar oil companies that propagate our national problems year after year while bleeding us all dry for only their benefit.
posted by Logic101 at 12/05/2006 07:45:00 AM
6 Comments:
Ford had a previous electric car flop in the Electric Ranger. Currently they seem to be focused on hybrids and on fuel cell vehicles (Focus FCV). The Tesla looks neat-o altho the 33 hour charge time (without the special infrastructure) sounds difficult...but still easier than finding raw hydrogen for your fuel-cell car!
Thanks for the reminder re the Focus (one of the most ugly, slow, painful little cars I've ever seen).
I still think we could have been/should have been doing a lot more to advance these alternative technologies to make them more appealing to the public. The Roadster is obviously not going to change the auto industry ($100K a car!) but Tesla gives me some degree of hope. As with so many things, the technology may start trendy and expensive and then become adapted for practicality and mass production.
You may find the back story on this interesting as well...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F
Interesting article. The Electric Ranger met a similar fate, collected up and crushed after a general lack of interest. If you think the Focus FCV looks questionable, look at the Honda fuel cell car. Honda has a strong reputation in engine development and has introduced some interesting hybrids recently:
http://world.honda.com/news/2006/4060925FCXConcept/
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"Collected up and crushed after a general lack of interest."
The electrics cars (including the Ranger) were produced in California because of the ZEV mandate. They were collected and crushed when the ZEV mandate was dropped and the car makers were not required to produce them anymore. I don't think it is fair to say there was a general lack of interest in the cars. They were produced in numbers just small enough to satisfy ZEV and they were mostly unmarketed (and even publicly dissed!) by their manufacturers. The cars were very popular with their owners... you can read about the effort to save the Ford Rangers from confiscation here --
http://jumpstartford.com/about_the_campaign/campaign_vict
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