In reply to Terry Blanton's message of Tue, 18 Jul 2006 09:37:07 -0400: Hi, [snip] >http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/whos-resurrecting-the-electric-car/13975/ > >http://tinyurl.com/pry3y > >excerpt from an excellent article: > Another excerpt:
"More puzzling still, in 2006, nearly all of General Motors research and development goes toward cars and trucks with internal-combustion engines; GM no longer has any research arm dedicated to electric vehicles. Its only alternative-fuel venture at the moment promotes corn-based ethanol, a fuel that, due to modern agricultural practices, takes as much energy in the form of petroleum to produce as it yields. This remains true even after some reliable experts, such as former Shell Oil analyst and geology professor Kenneth Deffeyes, reported that world oil production has already passed the peak predicted by geologist M. King Hubbert." ....of course they are concentrating on petroleum. The value of the last half of the fuel in the ground is much greater than the value of the first half. Does anyone seriously expect the oil companies to pass up the opportunity of a lifetime, that they have been waiting decades to cash in on? Obviously if the public doesn't want to be bled dry, then we are going to have to come with an alternative, and we are going to have to take matters into our own hands. We can't sit back and expect the majors to do it for us. They have a very serious interest in maintaining the status quo. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
