[eddie]

I was a little disappointed this morning to hear Buzz Hargrove (of the auto workers' union) say on the CBC that there isn't as much demand for hybrid cars as people make out. It seemed like an identical rhetorical tactic to the one that GM spokesmen were using in the movie (which I loved, btw).

Can it really be true that there isn't demand for hybrid cars out there? Especially in this age of soaring gas prices, I find that really, really hard to believe! Does anyone think hybrid cars suffer from being marketed still as a niche item rather than as a car for the average family? I still don't see a lot of ads out there either for hybrids or for Smarts.

Speaking of car ads, one of the best sequences of this movie is of the weird, creepy ad campaign that GM ran on the electric car, to make it seem totally off-putting! Quite entertaining!

[Raptor235]

no I wish... right now they're just doing conversions... they should be coming out within a year I believe.

[bluemoon]

Right now, hybrids are being purchased mostly by upper-middle income families. I believe that it will take some time before they become affordable to the general public.

Any thoughts?

[shadowbot]

I would like to point out that there are a lot of people saying that the pollution would just be converted from cars pollution to more power plant pollution. However, my answer to that is that power plants are single point-source polluters, they dont move, and it is 1 source that is responsible for the pollution. That means its much easier to control and much easier to reduce power plant pollution with better more expensive technology.

Whereas cars polluting are millions of different moving machines in various states of repair where some pollute more than others and their owners are not necessarily interested in keeping them clean running as long as they are cheap. Power plants however have much stricter government standards and must always have the best anti-pollution technology.

If I could choose whether to have all the pollution coming from cars, or from power plants, I would choose power plants.

[shadowbot]

Originally Posted by Raptor235

From what I learned is that because of competition from mainly Japan we'll be able to enjoy plug in hybrid cars soon... and they state that the hydrogen car will most likely never take off because it takes 4x more energy then it produces... and you need to build infrastructure to support delivery of hydrogen... with plug ins it's ALREADY THERE JUST PLUG IT IN I LOVE IT


more here CalCars' PRIUS+ Plug-In Hybrid

After checking out that site, I really love the idea of the plug in hybrid. Seems to me that if you are a city driver you could be basically driving an electric car, one that doesnt pollute while sitting in traffic or cost you gas money. Since city drivers dont travel far and sit at stoplights a lot, it would be the perfect fit for a situation in which you could keep the car completely electric. Very exciting!

[AzureWaves]

Hmm...all of those links were just for trailers...maybe they've been changed since they were put on. The movie comes out on DVD on Tuesday (14-Nov) though!

[shadowbot]

Yeah it seems that they have done a very thorough job of removing the full version from all the video sharing sites, I will try to find another full version.

[workinman]

Who Killed the Electric Car: GM and Chevron

hey checkout this site! havn't seen the movie yet..

[shadowbot]

If you havent seen the movie yet, thats a pretty good demo of the kind of information thats in the movie.

[Stepper]

These guys think the electric car may be resurrected within a few years: HybridCars.com - Freedom, Electric Cars, and Range