On Jun 16, 2015, at 2:25 AM, Mark Abramowitz via EV <[email protected]> wrote:

> I'm not understanding why you have a problem with Honda developing their line 
> based on consumer demand, or the most profit. Don't you understand that this 
> is how all the automakers compete, not to mention companies in other fields?

Automakers also drive demand.

You know one of the big reasons people are buying ICE rather than EV? EVs are 
perceived as wimpy oversized golf cars. And, save for Tesla, they're all made 
as econoboxes, more or less. Even BMW, one of the icons of powerful luxury 
vehicles...their EV is a dinky little thing that's smaller than the very 
definition of wimpy econoboxes: the classic aircooled VW Bug.

Honestly, there's absolutely no reason why this should be so. Just look at the 
Zombie 222 project to see how a few (not-so-)random schmucks can turn a 
50-year-old hunk of legendary Detroit steel into something faster than anything 
that has _ever_ left a Detroit factory even to this day. And they'll sell you 
one of your own for about the price of a Tesla.

If they can do that, what the hell is the problem with the big manufacturers? 
It should be trivial for them to make electric versions of their own modern 
production muscle cars -- and to make them absolutely smoke the ICE versions. 
And sell them for less, after subsidies, than the top-of-the-line ICE versions, 
and still with plenty of range for commuting.

Imagine if Ford made a fifteen-second SuperBowl commercial for the all-new 2017 
electric Mustang, consisting of nothing more than a drag race between it and an 
ICE Dodge Hellcat. The demand for *that* EV would be instant...and gasoline 
would suddenly be that old-n-busted stuff that gramps used to have to drive to 
get twice a day uphill through the snow to put in his lame-ass last-century 
slowboat. Electric or go home.

Great that Ford has electrified a Focus, that Honda has the Fit, Nissan the 
Leaf, BMW the i3, Chevy the Spark, and so on. Wonderful little cars. And we all 
know that there's a lot more to them than meets the eye.

But there's not a one of them that the archetypal 18-35 demographic would pick 
to be seen in on a date. Those aren't even Mom cars...they're the sort of thing 
bland generic middle-aged resigned-to-be-boring office drones drive to their 
cube farms and back to their apartment complexes in quiet desperation. Probably 
even with a prized red stapler hidden in the glove box.

...and we're surprised that there's no demand, no excitement for EVs...why, 
exactly?

b&
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