In the initial article
“The Perfect Car”, describes an electrical vehicle that can replenish its own energy while in motion (non-stop), has zero gas emissions, seats 5 people, has no fuel cost, and is priced between 20,000 to 40,000 USD depending on its features. See http://www.articlesbase.com/cars-articles/the-perfect-car-740680.html. Of course its estimated selling price was based on fuel saving claims automakers could make to maximize their profits.
However, the true manufacturing cost for an electrical vehicle that has around 200, +/- 20% parts and assemblies, should be between 5,000 to 10,000 dollars. Many of these parts will be light weight, with some stampings and moldings, plus the batteries and power motor components. 300% profits in this price-cost structure should be sufficient and many times greater than internal combustion automobile margins. Manufacturers, who try to corner the market with excessive high prices during this economy and forthcoming culture, may be censored and not viewed as ethical. But there is no certainty how investors and consumers will react with abusive high price tactics with this technology.
In the same article, it was stated that the electrical car should have the electrical technology of the Tesla Roadster, the regenerative brake technology of the Toyota Prius, and a new
“automotive wind turbine” to replenish its electrical consumption. As of today, a Chinese manufacturer has already begun work on the design and prototype for a new wind turbine, to offer it automobile manufactures by the end of 2009. Therefore the technology is there, but lacks confidence and a concentrated effort to employ it and produce it in volumes for the global demand.
There are several problems associated with producing and deploying
“The Perfect Car”. Let us analyze these problems:
The first set of problems is that current electrical car producers are not traditional automakers, their technology is still in flux, four out of the five producers are creating toy cars, the other producer is creating a sport car for people that collect and keep them in their garage, and none of them have a clue on the importance and urgency for their development in this country or this planet. These upstart manufacturers are not worried about the contamination of current combustion motors, large productions and deployments, but rather they squabble and bicker over the technology. The characteristics of the 5 electrical vehicles are as follows:
Automobile
Price Range (USD)
Top Speed
(mph)
Range
(Miles)
Charge time
(Hrs)
Comments
Tesla Roadster
109,000
125
240
3.5
2 seater sports car
Made by Tesla Motors, USA
Gem
7,000 to 13,000
25
30 to 40
6 to 8
Toy car
Made by Chrysler, USA
Dynasty iT Sedan
14,000 to 25,000
25
30
6
Toy car
Bought and made by Pakistan
Zenn
16,000
25
30 to 50
6 to 8
Toy Car
Made in Canada
Zap Zebra
11,700
40
25
6
Toy Car
Made in China
Source: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0806/gallery.electric_cars_now/index.html
In the list above we see Tesla Motors as the only possible replacement for the internal combustion vehicles. All other manufacturers could possibly position their vehicle in the motorcycle market, which is especially large in Asia. Tesla however, would still need to include the wind turbine technology as soon as it is available, to quiet detractors and internal combustion engine fans.
Furthermore, it is disappointing to learn that Tesla only made 150 cars in 2008 and is planning, only 1,200 sports cars for 2009. Tesla Motors has not yet found its call for a service oriented high volume Automaker Company, and should consider licensing, selling or allowing the use of Tesla’s technology to traditional high volume service oriented automakers like Chrysler, Ford and GMC. Tesla should acknowledge the urgency of the climate change situation denounced by Al Gore, to accelerate volumes and create a family size vehicle adequately priced.
The second problem is on the production and deployment side. America needs to produce and place in operation about 24 million electrical vehicles per year for the next 10 years. Then and only then, the existing 240 million car population can be replaced to achieve oil independence during this time frame. With
the car description in
“The Perfect Car” article, fuel consumption is nil and car maintenance cost should drop sharply, near to zero. Replacing the autos in circulation in less than 10 years, is difficult and probably not feasible if it is to occur naturally, because changes have to be implemented at the production facility level, and people in the auto industry need to be relocated and re-trained to be absorbed by other industries. However, the upside of this technology is that it frees wasted resources (fossil fuels), makes life easier and more economical, reduces and eventually eliminates the consumption of non-renewable resources and gas emissions.
Therefore, all car manufacturers are called to action to produce this electrical vehicle. Stop wasting time, money and resources in trying to make the combustion engine more efficient. No matter how efficient you make the combustion motor, it is still non-desirable because it burns fossil fuel which is being depleted, and contaminates the planet.
If each of the 13 listed below car manufactures committed themselves to the electrical vehicle, then each producer could sell 1.8 million vehicles p/year on average in the US market alone, plus what the rest of the world needs.
USA Automakers
GMC, Chrysler, Ford
European Automakers
Renault, Peugeot, Fiat, VW, BMW
Asian Automakers
Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Suzuki
Table above not listed in any special order.
Most automakers probably already have some electrical technology, which can be used. If the technology is not in-house ready, then they should try to license Tesla’s technology. Regardless, CEO of these auto corporations should get to work on the task of substituting the internal combustion engines. Other niche producers not listed in the above table, that specialize in low production, very high priced vehicles can continue with their combustion engines, since their small volume does not matter. We really need to convert the high volume autos makers that produce vehicles for the masses, families, and low price vehicles.
Current oil producers like Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco and other oil companies are probably hoping the US continues to implement many interim strategies in the auto industry, like the hybrid car strategy, before electrical cars are reached. Current incoherent auto development approaches provides oil companies with a greater horizon to continue depleting the available oil supply. It will also allow them many more years, in making 42 billion dollar profits, like Exxon made in 2008. Nevertheless, these oil companies should already be addressing not the expansion of fossil fuel, but the creation of alternate clean energy sources and the distributed-power-generation to reduce our non-sustainable systems and models mentioned in
“Solar Power Generation for a New World Order” at the following link: http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/solar-power-generation-for-a-new-world-order-673242.html
Juan A Trevino
Consultor de Negocios que radica en Miami, Florida y que busca promover el cambio a sistemas y modelos, orgánicos y energéticos, pero siempre sustentables. Asiste a las empresas para coordinar, diseñar, producir, distribuir, mercadear sistemas, modelos o componentes que contribuyan al cambio social y económico. Sirve de enlace a empresas que buscan afiliaciones tecnológicas que generen productos y servicos, que beneficien a la sociedad y al planeta.
