Detroit Goes for Electric Cars, but Will Drivers?

nytimes.com
Detroit Goes for Electric Cars, but Will Drivers?

Detroit is ready to announce the thought of producing electric cars, but is worried about what the country’s driving population is going to think. “There are no guarantees that consumers — for all their stated concerns about global warming, dependence on foreign oil and unpredictable gas prices — will buy enough of them. They may balk, for example, at the limits on how far they can drive on a single charge.” With the gas prices potentially shooting back up to four dollars a gallon, these electric cars could sound very appealing. When the gas prices were previously so high, the hybrid car’s market was souring. Ford was not even able to produce enough of these hybrid cars to satisfy the consumer demand. Then when the price dropped back down to less than two dollars a gallon, the car’s market plummeted. The driver’s reactions for these electric cars could be unpredictable. The word seems to be that for every 100 miles driven, the car needs to be charged for 6 hours. This could pose a problem for long road trips, and appears to be an extensive and unrealistic amount of time for just 100 miles. In this scenario, non-electric cars appear to be more appealing. Many automakers, however, are jumping at the idea to produce these battery powered cars. Some automakers promise to have their new products available as early as 2010. Mitsubishi, Chevrolet, General Motors, etc, are all participating in this production trend. Now all that is left to do is wait for the most important opinion- the consumer’s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11electric.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Detroit%20goes%20for%20electric%20cars,%20but%20will%20drivers?&st=cse