Ah, the Chevy Volt. The plug in car with a backup gas engine. Not a hybrid, which uses the battery to increase the fuel efficiency of a gas engine, but an electric car with a gas engine to recharge the battery. The vaporware affordable fuel independence vehicle. 40 miles to an overnight charge, fifty miles per gallon. All modestly priced at a Chevy price. Will they deliver this on time. I've seen print ads for this for over a year, and derided GM for advertising a solution they didn't have. They sure didn't make any friends in the environazi camp when they recalled all the EV cars after the leases expired and sent them to the trash heap. But let's just say they make it good. Lets say the release a car in 2010, and it costs under 30,000. Will my car make it until then? I sure hope so. Would I buy one, an american car that revolutionizes the notion of a car?
I'll be moving to Chicago in about a year. I think I can get plenty close in to the city and the airport to make a 40 mile charge a lot more practical than my current situation, where I typically drive 45 - 65 miles each way for work. I've been insulated from the gas prices because of my generous employer's auto program. But I see the $4.30 regular, and chuckle internally with an "I told you so" superiority. I'm excited for the return of regular rail service to America. Want to increase urban density (and heating efficieny), move back to a central terminal style transport system.
I'm thirty. I remember clotheslines. My parents likely knew of nothing else. We had a washboard in the basement, replaced by a washing machine. I remember laundromats. Dreary places, really, now the home of the less affluent. They used to be a sort of proletarian community room, mothers reading, children causing mischief. Now we can't abide to live somewhere without an in-unit laundry?
How many drop off laundries are there anymore? Not dry-cleaning, but a $10/load drop off, pick it up in six hours and get your shopping done while you wait sort of place. Sounds like a fantastic job for a young person.
I pledged two years ago to vote for John McCain if he ran, I think I still will. I pledge to buy a Volt if GM can deliver for 2010 under $30,000. And if not, Honda still has an excellent lineup of small cars.
3 comments:
Oh Dan. I'm as hopeful about the chevy volt as you are... but Mccain?
It has to do with the torture issue. Plus, I still don't like fascism cum socialism that Obama is sure to drive toward. I'm a little skittish when it comes to charismatic people. I never know what's in store.
Specifically, I'm really upset about cap and trade--it stifles new business, and favors existing industries, sounds like fascism to me. Nobody talking about railroads as the solution to an energy shortage, every pie in the sky idea to keep driving affordable. There is going to be a shake up, it will happen in our lifetime, and it will be very traumatic. Are you ready for the next great depression? How long should we cling to the twentieth century? What can we do to keep america from becoming a third world nation? Is it unavoidable? If so, how do I get into the upper class fast?
Post a Comment