Several thoughts on your comments
1) I have gone by nissan dealers 2x to look at Leafs.
I was somewhat surprised that I knew way more than the salespersons and briefly
considered applying for a lower paying job than I have so I
could be an EV sales rep. They were, to put it politely, very uneducated and
unable to answer simple questions
2) There was a formal paper released, I think by EESI bemoaning the fact that
renewables were cutting into the steady revenue stream of utilities and future
prospects of further revenue decline
Like Bruce said, change can be exponential or discontinuous or go into log
phase growth.
------------------------------
On Sat, Jun 29, 2013 10:55 PM EDT Bruce EVangel Parmenter wrote:
>This petition isn't just about Tesla. If successful, it will set a
>precedent, that others can follow. By signing the petition, you are
>saying you want and support a consumer's right to freedom of choice.
>
>> So, would Tesla's model cut down on competition?
>Meaning would auto-dealers lose business?
>I think not. Their business would change from the fat-n-wasteful
>bloated-monopoly that it is to one that is more true to what the
>customer wants (imagine sales staff that actually know their product,
>helpful, and not on commission?). But dealers will be needed for a long
>time to provide service to cars that use fuel.
>
>It is the auto-dealer assn monopoly that is blocking change (they do not
>want to disturb the goose that lays the golden eggs).
>
>But change is not linear, it is exponential. Blocking change is not
>living in the real-world.
>
>As a boy in the early 1960's my Dad would gas-up at a downtown station
>(Silicon Valley had not disseminated all the agriculture in Santa Clara
>County at that time, so downtown was still fairly sleepy). The price of
>gas was ~$0.30/gal (unless the stations were cutting the price in a
>gas-war: I saw as low as $0.06/gal ...) and one could still get full
>service from a station at no added cost. That station owner had to stop
>what he was doing in the garage, and come out to pump gas. It is likely
>he was making more money on the repair work than on selling gas for
>pennies.
>
>When I got off the freedom-bird after my Vietnam era military service,
>and back in the world just after the 1st oil embargo, that station had
>closed, been sold, then opened as a self-serve cheapo Rotten-Robbie type
>station (low prices, lousy gas quality, but very-busy). So, that owner
>must have sold the business, and was doing something else, perhaps an
>auto repair shop where he would not be interrupted with having to pump
>gas.
>
>
>If I use Peri's analogy of cell phone service, the auto-dealer assn
>blocking change, would be like requiring that no cell phone nor mobile
>Internet access would be allowed unless purchased through a
>good-o-boy-dealer-chain (and they are not interested in providing it).
>
>Take-away/greatly-reduce/make more expensive the freedom of getting a
>cell phone, and having mobile Internet access, the public would go
>ballistic/postal. That is because they already know about it, and are
>already addicted to it. Not many in the public know about plugins ...
>yet.
>
>Its all about freedom of choice, that the auto-dealer assn wants to
>block to keep their profits from being disturbed/changed.
>
>Unlocking auto-dealers' death-grip will also help with the public with
>access to cars using future fuels that could then be possible to be
>sold. The possibilities would be an opportunity for both businesses, and
>the buying public (having choices is a good thing).
>
>
>{brucedp.150m.com}
>...
>http://www.1960sflashback.com/1960/economy.asp
>...
>http://www.vietvet.org/glossary.htm
>...
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis
>
>
>
>-
>On Sat, Jun 29, 2013, at 04:48 PM, Peri Hartman wrote:
>> It's interesting, also, because back until the late 70's, most
>> dealerships
>> (perhaps all) were tied to one manufacturer. I believe they were
>> independent, but if you associated with GM for example, you could only
>> sell
>> GM vehicles. That model broke down when Japanese cars started getting
>> popular and US-maker dealers either had to diversify or they would go
>> broke.
>> So they diversified, to some degree anyway.
>>
>> So, would Tesla's model cut down on competition? One comparison I'm
>> thinking of is cell phone services. There are only 4 major carriers in
>> the
>> US. While you can buy a lot on line or change service features on line,
>> they do have company-owned retail outlets and phone and plan prices are
>> universally set by each compnay. That would be similar to Tesla, I
>> think.
>> Do you consider that there is insufficient competition among carriers?
>> Would there be a consumer benefit if independent retailers could set the
>> plan and phone prices?
>-
>
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