All Electric Cars Are America's Future, Or Are They?
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| All Electric Cars |
In
the future when battery technologies get better, more efficient, and less
expensive we may see a percentage of cars on the road which are all-electric.
Of course, that future isn't here yet, and we have some serious problems with
scarcity when it comes to REE's or rare-earth-elements, and several
technological challenges out there. Eventually those hurdles will become
uneventful, but today these technologies are simply too costly to compete with
our current automobiles.
Should
we then subsidies such companies to give them a head start, assisting them on
moving these technologies closer to fruition and marketplace viability, and
acceptance? Some believe we should and there are plenty of alternative energy
gurus willing to accept tax credits, subsidies, capital, and donation grants
from where ever and whomever is willing to give.
There
was an interesting article recently on SlashDot titled "Government Funded
Electric Car Company Goes Out of Business: which was posted by Soulskill on
July 20, 2011 as he quoted "TheCarChik" who started;
"Consider
yesterday's collapse of Green Vehicles an object lesson in why it's a bad idea
for cities to invest in the risky business of start-up car companies, perhaps
especially start-up electric car companies. Even such companies with a viable
product have seen their fair share of financial trouble, but Green Vehicles did
not even have a product to sell off at a fire sale. The City of Salinas,
California learned that lesson as Green Vehicles shut its doors, costing the
city more than $500,000."
Okay
so, here is another company that couldn't make it in the real world even with
the taxpayer's seed money. Indeed, such stories are so typical and common, they
are almost predictable. And thus, perhaps we need to consider this before we
allow tax payer's money to be gifted, granted, or loaned to alternative energy
projects, political pet projects, or those who promote alternative energy, and
Global CO2 Warming as some sort of new age religion.
The
question might be; were any of these businesses viable in the first place, or
just fantasy laden socialist utopian dreams? I do not doubt that such projects
are often billed as job creators in the new clean and green economy, the one that
doesn't exist, but it would seem to me as a true blue capitalist that when a
company, any company, starts out on the wrong foot with a faulty business plan
hoping to change the world yet denies the market place realities that perhaps,
voters, taxpayers, and citizens ought to simply stand up and say; no thanks.
By
Lance Winslow (retired Founder of a Nationwide
Franchise Chain)
