I'm sorry but I can't resist. All the fools who've ordered Tesla's, and the other sucka's buying Leaf's or Volts, are going to be stuck with museum pieces.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46608011 (GM shutters production for Volt - 'temporarily')
People are just so freaking clueless about technology.
One very simple way to judge if something is going to be a success ? If the government endorses it, or has to fund it, RUN RUN RUN as far away as you can.
As far as a electric cars go, I'm a mechanical engineer, with an energy, physics, and electrical background, and for all practical purposes, electric cars will NEVER become mainstream. Its a fairy tale folks. You cannot design a battery, or charging system that will stand up to the conditions. And charging batteries is as inefficient as hell. Sure you can do it with scooters, or mopeds, or golf carts. But those are of such limited and intermittent usage, and so few hours, and so lightweight relative to a car, and nowhere near the electronics demand.
Also people just don't get how dangerous it is, and all the protections you have to add, without you becoming a fried shrimp in a box of electrons zapping around at the voltages needed. You are safer spending 10 hours a week in an MRI, to be blunt about it. (oh and ask a doctor how 'safe' that is for even a few minutes a month.)
The demise of the internal combustion engine has been GREATLY exaggerated.
Oh, I know what you are saying. The enganeers at GM are SOOOO much smarter than i am, so how could i possibly know ?
Ever heard of job security ? Those engineers and designers need paychecks too, and if you don't have a job, but have the talent sets they do, you would take it too, and build whatever the mfg wants, as long as you get a paycheck. its like the dummies who all worked at fuel cell companies the past 20 years. they may be book smart, but they aren't people who can survive in a mainstream organization, so they take what they can get, or they end up on the unemployment line or with jobs they hate and are over qualified for. Yep, a lot of PHD's in this country, many way underpaid, or underutilized, so when something like electric cars come along, and some dumb manufacturer and an even dumber government are willing to fund an experiment like this, they jump at the chance. But they all know too, they'd never drive one of these or even want to own one. So they just are pimping to a great fool, so they can get a paycheck.
Ever heard of 3 strikes and your out ? Well with GM this is their last at bat with electric cars. We all know how the first two ended.
