Hi Bruce, IMO there is only one principle reason why EVs (and I mean electric vehicles, not PIHs or anything else with an ICE in it) are not selling as I would hope (or their manufacturers might have expected) and that is the price of oil.
If we are emerging from the global recession - and the signs appear to be saying we are - expect a significant rise in the cost of oil as global industrial output increases. I really believe that given a return to 'normality' we will see the price of oil at $150pb within a year or two, $200 within 5 years and a commensurate increase in the cost of petrol, diesel and all other crude-based products. Then we will see what sort of cars are selling fastest! It would be interesting to plot the rate of release of EV news items with the price of oil. I suspect they will match perfectly - if offset by a month or so. MW On 22 Jan 2013, at 01:28, Bruce EVangel Parmenter wrote: > For those that do not know, since the 1990's I had sieved through the > news (then paper, today newswires) to help inform the plugin community > (a knowledgeable EVangel is a successful one). Over the years much has > changed. Since the beginning of 2010 and the then coming election, the > newswires were filled with both fact and fiction. Each day I waded into > the mire to pull out the items that seem to have some value for the > plugin community. > > [Some of the following items are OT according to the evdl charter, OT > discussions are to be taken offline asap] > As posted/reported previously (about a year ago), the ratio of EV and > plugin hybrid (pih aka phev) pieces initially still out paced the plugin > competitors the Oil and Auto Industry would like to profit by > (ice-hybrids, fcv, cng, etc.). but this last year that ratio had changed > with an increase in volume of the aforementioned competitor pieces. > > Amongst those pieces I felt needed to help/were worthy of eating evdl > bandwidth, over 80% were bought-n-paid-for negatively-biased > misinformation-pieces (that I do not post). After the election, that > dissipated. Now, the overall piece-count/quantity has reduced greatly, > and the negative to useful/positive piece ratio has changed to about > 50/50 (less paid-for negative pieces). > > Now with this new year, the flow is down even more. So, if you feel my > work is lacking, you have to look at the source, and please: > Do not shoot the piano player. And if you do not like what to read in > your intray poke about in the archives. I am finding member's topic > tastes vary and sometimes a archive-only post get read much more than > one posted to your intray. > > I too miss all the latest EV information on each of the new compliance > cars: > Ford Focus EV > BMW ActiveE EV > Honda Fit EV > VW eGolf EV > Chysler's Fiat 500e EV > Chevy Spark EV > +more+ > and a plethora of pih pieces. > > In fact there are newswires stating the 'Death of the EV' and the rise > of the pih, that 2013 will be a pih year (GM took advantage of this > stating that EVs were not dead, that their pih were coming - again they > called their pih EVs). This has also lead much more than before the > media's use of Electric Vehicle when pontificating about a pih (now my > search algorithms are cluttered with pih, and fcvs calling themselves > EVs). > > IMO > EVs are still selling, but not as high when compared to ice, or > non-plug-able hybrids. I feel that because there really is no media ad > campaign to sell EVs, those low EV sales volumes are to be expected. GM > for a while was advertizing their pih, but have since backed off. > > There is something to be said of social norms. Today, advertizing sets > up in the public's mind what is OK/acceptable, and what is odd or > unknown if not advertized. If something is not advertized, it infers > there is something wrong with that unadvertised item. > > There are existing TV ads that could tack on a blurb while they are at > it. "Come in to get your Nissan Truck today, and we have the Leaf > Electric to save you a ton of money ..." , The Fords are on sale today, > hurry to get yours, and while you are at take a test drive in the Focus > Electric that charges at home for pennies and never needs gas ...". > This could be done, but no. U.S. Auto manufacturers and dealership still > have the head stuck in the past. > > If only some of the grant$, and funding for EVSE could be diverted to > create TV PSAs. While I am happy with new EVSE going in, it is not being > installed with an overall game-plan in mind. Thus EVSE sales teams > chasing after commissions are getting sales as fast as they can without > regard to if there is already too many EVSE in an area, and not enough > in others. With huge gaps between cities, it stops plugin drivers from > being able to get from point A to B and back. : /soapbox-off : > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20130122/0196ebd8/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
