Why is it taking so long for US Automakers to develop and sell hybrid cars?
By Cars & Motorcycles on Sep 04, 2008 with Comments 7
blackpig asked: Oil just below $100 dollars a barrel and pump prices are over 50 per cent profit, and yet still no real choice for American consumers for hybrid or alternative fuel, even with exploited tax breaks (by the automakers) and obvious demand…..
Filed Under: Hybrid Cars
About the Author:
because they can.
It will be a great threat to the automobile industry!!
Do some research.
Hybrids are a bit expensive, and no were int he world produces enough corn or anything else, to distill yet for fuel.
Hybrid hell, There is an compressed air vehicle out now that will go up to 500 miles and cost 50 cents to fill, no gas involved. They even have their own on board compressor that will recharge itself in 4 hours by a 110 power cord and top speed is 58 MPH and they cost between $4,000 and $6,000 U.S Dollars. The reason Detroit is still making gas powered vehicles is because the fuel companies want them to, plain and simple! And with government firmly in the pockets of the automakers and the fuel companies don’t expect anything to change soon either. Sad but totally TRUE!! I still say on 9/11 instead of screwing with Iraq or Afghanistan the President should have made the vow that the USA would be energy independent in 10 years. Hell, we’d be half way there by now easy and then we could tell those Middle Eastern countries to take their oil and shove it.
The US automakers have lagged behind foreign automakers on developing hybrid vehicles, but there are actually a few on the market.
GM is selling the GMC Yukon and Chevy Tahoe hybrids with their 2008 batch of new vehicles.
Ford has the Escape hybrid.
They are being developed and there are tax breaks. The problem right now is the price and good old ‘supply & demand’. If a hybrid costs $2000 to $4000 more than a conventional car, that’s a lot of gas money, not cost effective. Only the rich can afford to save money this way.
Hybrids have to have an battery that adds several thousand (4 or 5) dollars to the price, is heavy and uses up most of the trunk space, and last I checked needed to be replaced every seven years, They get 50 miles a gallon compared to 35 for a small car with the same carrying capacity. This is a long way of saying that the market for hybrids is very small. The hybrids that are on the market are mostly SUV’s where the mileage on the conventional equivalent is very low.