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Electric Vehicles, Solution Or Diversion - Updated (Originally Published On The Auto Channel 12/7/2009)


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Tulip Scam

SEE ALSO: The Auto Channel Electric Vehicle News and Opinion Archive -EV's GOOD FOR CHINA-Inconseqeucial For Poor Americans and country folks, bad for American Car Makers, Not even the best choice for our earth.
SEE ALSO: Actual Comparison Of Consumer Cost To Fill UP An ICE Vehicle Vs. An EV Is This The End Of The Fairy-tale?
SEE ALSO: Electric Vehicles Are Built On Wall Street
SEE ALSO: Reuters Report - Its A Long Road For Electric Vehicles
SEE ALSO: Toyota Chief Scientist Compares EV Batteries To Hydrogen Power


         Originally Published On The Auto Channel 12/7/2009 with updates since then.

But First: We believe that the push to convince a gullible public that fairy-tale EV's are a realistic replacement for Internal Combustion Powered vehicles is a Chinese Desire.

Even after reading our facts and opinion about the EV Scam you still believe that we are nuts, read the summaries of news articles about the Electric Vehicle industry in the Editor's Notes below.

The facts contained in those stories corroborate our lonely but patriotic stance that EV's are harmful fairy tales and have no truthful future to actually replace the 100 year reliance on gasoline.

The promotion of Electric Vehicles is just a diversion from the domestic, renewable, intelligent and practical implementation of the ready-now domestic and renewable alternative to gasoline, Ethanol; See Marc Rauch's 600-page "The Ethanol Papers".

The false EV narrative has been promulgated by the Chinese Government (and stupid traitorous American politicians) in order to replace today's worldwide auto industry and its 100 plus years of car building investment and experience and to quickly transform their car industry (with a little help from the Party and a few of their friends) into the world's top supplier of new vehicles powered by electric (of course).

If you still believe that we are nuts...we are not alone. Please read the summaries of Electric Vehicle industry news published below. The facts contained in those stories corroborate our ballsy but patriotic stance. The facts provide evidence that Electric Vehicles were never, are not now, nor will they become a meaningful alternative to replace the nearly 300 million gasoline drinking vehicles on America's roads within the next 100 years, thus keeping America beholden to OPEC and the Big Oil mafia while China steps-in as a hero to supply EV's to the world...boy are they smart and our auto executives and Government stupid (once again).


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The Great Electric Vehicle Scam

The Government Makes Their Choice: BIDEN PLAN: Electric vehicle charging stations built with federal dollars should be positioned along Interstates every 50 miles, be able to recharge cars quickly and be located no more than a mile from a major highway, according to new rules proposed by the Biden administration on Thursday. The new standards are part of the Biden administration’s efforts to spur widespread adoption of zero-emission cars, with a goal of having half of all new vehicles sold in the United States electric by 2030. (NY Times)

  • Under the proposed new rule, states would be required to provide at least four of the quickest type of recharging ports, known as Direct Current fast chargers, at every charging station to allow multiple drivers to plug in at the same time.
  • Under the bipartisan infrastructure law signed last year by President Biden, the government would provide $7.5 billion to states to create a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
  • How could an industry as entrenched as the automobile industry be affected so quickly by a newcomer's seismic strategy shift?

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    This...
    What goes around comes around "they" say, and here we go again.

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    ...Or this?
    The world's auto industry is once again poised for a paradigm similar to the 1960's changes that changed winners and looser forever. Back then, boatloads filled with white, black and sky blue Toyota's and Datsun's with tan interior's flooded the US market and sat on dealer's lots despite their low MSRP, despite their higher MPG (remember that gasoline cost less than 25 cents a gallon in the early 60's so no one gave a shit about MPG), despite increased quality, emanating from the American-invented Japanese-adopted Toyota Production System (TPS). Just-in-time manufacturing eliminated waste and controlled quality. But despite this strong quality story, despite the cost story, despite immediate- delivery, the small cars with tan interiors sat on dealers lots until...the real game changer, the fabricated OPEC oil crisis (third world payback possibly?) put a premium on small Asian cars with tan interiors and higher MPG and lower cost and a hope by American car buyers of cars that would last longer than 40-60,000 miles, then floodgates to Asian owned car companies were open wide never to close again...paradigm is baaaacccck but this time it's EV's and China.

    The Asians capitalized on the blatant insulation, cockiness, stupidity and dishonesty of America's Big 3 auto executives by convincing America's auto buyers that Asian quality trumped traditional domestic manufacturing and all of the benefits of that big advantage (until the Asians were entrenched in the US of course ie; Honda, Toyota, Nissan and now the Koreans are all building wonderful vehicles here in North America...they see the advantages)

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    Getting...
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    ...Closer
    Using their better quality story (which was true at the time) to create a wedge in the way North American's bought new cars up until then...when the buyer actually spec-ed out their vehicle by choosing ALL OF THEIR OPTIONS including color, engine choice, interior choice, body options, tire size and capability, ETC.,ETC., ETC.


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    All of this customization was accomplished without online ordering, JIT Manufacturing, Robots, Logistics, AI or whatever the latest manufacturing systems are being developed to get us back to the flexibility in the manufacturing of cars, not by machines but by good strong caring UAW employees...who anchored our middle class... Now watch TV and count the number of shows that brag on hand built cars...huh!

    And Kids,here is the best part, back in the 1950's and 1960's and early 1970's, in 5-6 weeks the buyer picked up the exact Made in North America car THEY ORDERED with their choice of color, engine, transmission, rear axle ratio, upholstery type, chrome design...unlike the foreign(interesting description I think) cars where they HAD TO buy what was already in stock sitting on the Imported car lots because white one off the lot they got what they wanted...and here we go again...WTF?

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    Electric Cars are not a new invention and they weren't able to compete with cars powered by alcohol back at the turn of the 20th century - never could, never will - until someone comes along with a paradigm shift electric vehicle solution, not a politically and economically motivated tulip frenzy of an idea.




    ELECTRIC VEHICLES - SOLUTION OR DIVERSION?

    AUTO CENTRAL - December 7, 2009: The publishers of The Auto Channel believe that Big Oil, Big Power and China's support of the EV Fairy Tale is a well orchestrated anti-American propaganda scheme designed to take America's car industry off the real fuel solution, ETHANOL and continue to be beholden to gasoline for another 100 years(at least).

    The EV misinformation campaign has unfortunately obfuscated a nascent national demand for an American alt-fuel solution that will actually take America off of Big Oil's teat doesn't require rocket science or a new trillion dollar infrastructure or a change American's driving desires and vehicle choices all the while eliminating the bad things that accrue from American drivers having no alternative but to continue to suck down billions of dollars of gasoline each year. Only 70% of electric made in USA is made with renewable or clean or green fuels so how can EV's help contribute to a brighter cleaner future? They can't!


    ELECTRIC VEHICLES - SOLUTION OR DIVERSION? - Take 2

    AUTO CENTRAL - December 12, 2009: President Obama is using his bully pulpit to promote a goal of 1 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015 (big whoopee, out of 300 million vehicles). Our President's naive words and deeds, along with myriad "car of the year" nominations and honors being given to untested, minimal production electric vehicles by misinformed sycophantic automotive publications, are helping support the oil industry's EV over-hyping, which has already allowed our government to "back-burner" real solutions, and is helping sustain and prolong Big Oil's anti-American, vastly profitable monopoly, "the gasoline status-quo" for as long as possible (and why wouldn't they).

    This growing pro-EV and anti-any other alt-fuel propaganda, comes in contradiction to easily obtained facts that show EVs will not be a Short, Mid or even a Long-term alt fuel solution, and is marginalizing our desperately needed alt-fuel reality that will provide Americans with a ubiquitous domestic, renewable, and green(er) fuel alternative along with a bonus of a much needed "silver bullet" that can super-charge our economy.

    The Auto Channel believes that before our government commits even one more tax dollar to support battery and recharging research, and its offer more $7,500 tax breaks for the purchase of "not ready for prime time" Electric Vehicles, America needs to put the cart before the horse and do something now to reduce or eliminate our addiction to gasoline, and the vast economic harm to our economy that comes as a direct result of buying imported oil (52% of the U.S. Trade Deficit can be blamed on importing oil*). When we are off the black smack, we as a nation can gleefully spend our treasury and time on future energy research, without our nation being held hostage to the ticking bomb, from OPEC and its allies, now being held over our collective heads, our pocketbooks, and our beloved country's foreign policy.




    The impossible promise of EVs as the replacement for gasoline-powered vehicles has helped create another pop culture fad, which like Holland's 17th century "Tulip-Frenzy", has diverted our country's alt-fuel mojo and resources away from real solutions that can "get us off of gasoline now", and is helping Big Oil continue to profit from its 100 year monopolistic "gasoline as fuel" status-quo.

    For the record, The Auto Channel was never anti-electric vehicles...and will never be against any solution to get America off of gasoline now, but EV's time has not yet come or may never come, but the attention given to it has hurt our country. And as patriotic Americans and consumer advocates, we feel it our duty to publish the truth and help stop the EV fairy-tale which has allowed the hype and propaganda of, a beautiful new world filled with EV's, to displace our attention, financial resources, common will and government support of a real, timely and practical solution to our country's festering gasoline addiction.

    Anti-EV, no way, in fact over the past 10 years even before EVs became cool The Auto Channel championed the introduction of a future wave of electric vehicles equipped with hydrogen fuel-cells. (SEE: Electric Vehicles (EVs) Now Being Served)

    Our EV support (we invested in, developed and published EV-MOTORING.COM) was based on a future replacement of gasoline with sustainable, clean, and domestic electric vehicles recharged on the go by hydrogen fuel-cells. But something changed, the fuel cell left the equation and our government was corrupted into supporting the replacement of gasoline by plug-ins, to that end it offered billion dollar DOE grants to Big Power and connected "entrepreneurs" for smart-grids, recharging schemes, and advanced battery research to the detriment of a real solution.


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    Today’s purposeful daily EV puffery, promulgated through a well-planned and executed misinformation campaign, which is enhanced by a ubiquitous lack of knowledge, has diverted attention and billions of dollars from the real answer, it has also redirected our country’s collective desire for a timely replacement for gasoline with a mass hysteria that hooks Americans on the EV fairytale a situation that has not gone unnoticed by former electric vehicle agnostics who have now converted into electric vehicle evangelicals. These EV over-Promoters, in spite of the facts and to the detriment of our implementing a timely solution to get the United States off our gasoline dependency, have successfully managed to take our collective eyes off the ball...I guess that billions of dollars and Big Oil's blessing (see Big Oil Benefits From Divide and Conquer) are able to do that.

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    Promoting electric vehicles is all well and good, but something very dangerous and counterproductive to our country's well-being is happening: the daily orchestrated cacophony of exaggerated “news” of an Electric Messiah, Battery breakthroughs, Billion dollar smart-grid investments, and daily EV Recharging announcements from across America, has caused our naive politicians and sycophantic mainstream press (The Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome) to become blind to reality by the impossible dream (or calculated lie) of a near-term meaningful solution to replace the gasoline monopoly and all that it means.


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    This blindness to the truth has created a modern “tulip frenzy” which has effectively (or should I say efficiently) dulled down our nation's formerly growing collective civic will to secure a mandate for the timely replacement for oil-based fuels now, while supporting the continuation and investment in the research of fuels for our future vehicles. But the insidious, foolish and anti-American EV-frenzy was supported and promoted by our Government (unlike the Dutch Government which in 1637 created and distributed pamphlets filled with facts about the over-hyping of tulips, meant to protect their citizens from making foolish "investments" in Tulips) has moved America's collective alt-fuel concern away from our 300 million gasoline-drinking vehicles on U.S. roads today, and replaced it with a zombie-like stupor and willingness to wait (for how long?) for the professed and promised just-over-the-horizon EV miracle, while the 100-year-old status quo continues to pump a trillion dollars of gasoline a year into North America's cars and unconscionable profits into Big Oil's treasury.

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    Eliminating the use of most gasoline and diesel in the very short term is realistic, patriotic, and relatively easy...all it would take is a mandate from Washington DC that orders oil companies to cease producing old E10 or E15 gasoline and replace them all with a drop-in single, tested and available High-Test Flex-Fuel (E85) or Methanol modern sustainable, domestic fuels that can run our cars and light trucks (very well, thank you). We just have to do it; smoothly and quietly, like we did when our country changed over from leaded to unleaded gasoline back in the 1970’s. We also need to simultaneously mandate the replacement of petroleum oil-based diesel by either CNG (Natural Gas) or Bio-Diesel for trucks, buses, and other heavy-duty vehicles.

    During the past 15 years The Auto Channel has invested its editorial and economic resources to research, understand and provide in-depth and many times exclusive text and video coverage of ALT Fuels including Electric vehicles, Wind, Hydrogen, Fuel-cells, CNG and Propane, and have done it far more vigorously than any other mainstream automotive website.

    Today, more than ever, we continue to strongly support our belief that some day electric, hydrogen or a yet unknown fuel must and will power all of our vehicles.

    But America cannot afford to wait until that some day, after “the” alt fuel has been discovered, invented, tested and made available commercially. All of the facts agree that now is the absolutely correct point in our history to mandate the ubiquitous replacement for our 115-year-old government subsidized ($10 billion per year) monopolistic gasoline dependency.

    In spite of all of mainstream media's sycophantic "news"(better noise) about Electric Vehicles, PHEVs and new battery technology; most independent automotive futurists, along with every auto manufacturers' published sales projections for their electric vehicle production, concurs with our supposition that as long as gasoline-powered cars continue to be sold in much greater numbers than electric vehicles, EV's will never even become a mid-term solution to our festering gasoline dependency; there will be just too few EV's built, sold and on the road to enable a meaningful reduction in gasoline use now or ever over the next 40, 50, 100 years or maybe never.

    Today's oft repeated fairy-tale of electric replacing our 300 million plus gasoline powered vehicles on U.S. roads today is not only an impossibility, but we believe, is another insidious example of a well-planned diversionary tactic used to turbocharge Big Oil's “Divide and Conquer” strategy.

    Big Oil's frequently chanted mantra that "there is not just one replacement for gasoline but many" is a message that is the spear point of a misinformation campaign designed to marginalize and delay the logical and patriotic mandate for implementation of the real, domestic and readily available replacement for gasoline; alcohol. Big Oil's goal is to continue the status-quo monopoly that they love (and profit from – big time) for as long as possible into the future, or until they own and can monopolize oil's replacement.

    The truth (which is sublimated by Divide and Conquer) is that today there already exists a domestically produced, sustainable, and cleaner fuel than gasoline, a fuel that has already replaced gasoline in 7 million American flex-fuel cars and trucks and is realistically available to eliminate the use of 85% of gasoline today, not in 10, 20 or 100 years, but NOW. Now before more heroes have given their lives or limbs to sustain the criminal status-quo, NOW, before we purchase and pollute our world by burning another trillion dollars’ worth of gasoline another year.

    Replacing gasoline with flex-fuel today will end our export of a billion American dollars each day to people who not only hate our way of life and our freedoms but are financing the wars to destroy us. Replacing gasoline with flex-fuel today will radically minimize the influence and mammoth lobbying power of Big Oil, an industry that presently takes a trillion dollars a year from the American economy just when we need it the most. Imagine the positive impact that a trillion dollars multiplying within our economy will have on our families, our farmers, our green industries, America's labor force, and our government's ability to do the right thing for our citizens.

    So we scream with outrage, "NOW!" Now is the time for every American to tell their representatives in government to stand up and remove themselves from under the thumb of the oil lobby, because fellow Americans, we must not take it anymore; not now, not ever again, it's time NOW for Flex-fuel to become the new Regular. Ethanol is an American Solution to America's Problem.

    SEE ALSO: Yes Virginia There Is a Silver Bullet Solution To Our Gasoline Addiction
    SEE ALSO: Feb 1996 GM EV1 Capability Article (boy, will you be amazed)

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    By Bob Gordon
    President and Co-Publisher
    The Auto Channel

    SEE ALSO: Alcohol and Driving Do Mix

    Los Angeles, California December 3, 2009; As many of our regular readers know, we here at The Auto Channel have been big supporters of Electric Vehicles, and will continue to be so.

    But with yesterday's announcement by Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, that GM is now projecting sales of less than 300,000 EVs over the next 5 years (in a recent speech Carlos Goshn of Renault-Nissan said that by 2020 6 million EVs will be on the road), with these and other EV projections in mind it has become clear to me that EVs are not a near or even a mid-term solution for our oil dependence.

    I now believe that the current and exponentially growing EV hype is not only strange and unsettling but good for Big Oil and very dangerous for America.

    After two days at the 2009 LA Auto Show, I've learned one thing; Big Power has aligned itself with Big Oil to take American eyes off of a quick, easy, and very doable solution to rid the United States of its addiction to both foreign and domestic oil-based fuels, that up until now were the only choices to power the freedom of movement that we Americans demand.

    Over the past few weeks the hype about how our future's transportation needs can be met by Electric Vehicles, and how the big electric utilities are teaming with the carmakers to make EV's a reality has reached a crescendo. But when I put two and two together, I see another very clever manifestation of Big Oil's century-old strategy to "Divide and Conquer" to keep us addicts addicted.

    The Auto Channel ownership believes that there are two real and practical solutions to our immediate and mid-future fuel needs:

    The first is virtually sustainable - Natural Gas(CNG):

    North America has hundreds of years of Natural Gas reserves with more being found each day, we just have to do what the rest of the world has learned to do, compress it and make it available for drivers, and they will use it and compared to oil-based fuels it's cheaper, less polluting, there's lots of here and it works! Infrastructure is just our desire away.

    The second is absolutely sustainable – Ethanol:

    Ethanol is a real solution to not only replace gasoline vehicles in the future, but has the bones to rapidly wean the existing 200 million EFI equipped vehicles on the road that here to for are 100% dependent on Big Oil to provide the fuel they need.

    Enough of the Bull:

    Every farmer in the world understands that to make ethanol viable here in the U.S. they need to grow the raw material for this ancient elixir from other than food plants, and good old (new strains)of Switch Grass is the “now” answer...it is a plant that is just like a weed and can grow (and does) everywhere...once planted it requires very little care or watering or fertilizing to grow and once established (about two years) it can continue to be harvested after each growing season with a farmer's existing equipment forever.

    The farmers that we talked to are excited about this opportunity to add another cash crop, not as a replacement for the food plants they are now growing on their most fertile fields, but a new crop that can utilize secondary fields which up until now have been uneconomically feasible to plant crops on.

    To make this "best solution" a priority it is imperative that this country develop a consortium that will play the role of Big Ethanol and facilitate the means to remove our dependence on oil and all that means...oh happy day!

    By the way GM, Ford, and Chrysler already lead the world in manufacturing Flex-fuel vehicles, so why are they so quiet about E85 now...anyone know? bgordon@theautochnanel.com

    Big Deal EV News

    This linked page contains all of the Electric Vehicle and Battery News and Opinions published on The Auto Channel over the past 20 years, worth reading if you have the TUMS handy, the Editor's Notes below lists stories that will corroborate our position that Electric Vehicles are a Chinese-created anti-American diversion meant to take the logical focus away from American Ethanol the realistic alt fuel solution. This scam perpetrated by strange bedfellows, Big Oil (complicity anti American or just stupid?) and the Chinese Government.

    Editors Note: June 7 2020; GM Says Long Time Until EV Relace 250 Million Cars On Road Tosay

    EDITOR's NOTE: Wake Up Oil Industry And Recognize That "Making Nice" To Ethanol Can Save Your Ass And Millions of American Jobs

    EDITORS NOTE June 14 2019: China's "Father of Electric Cars" Disowns First Child Before Maturity, Now Says Hydrogen Is the Future of Automobiles +VIDEO

    Editor's Note June 27, 2019; A report from Automotive News quotes BMW Group board member for development, Klaus Frohlich declaring that the diesel engine still has at least 20 more years, and the gasoline engine, at least 30 years.

    "The shift to electrification is over-hyped. Battery-electric vehicles cost more in terms of raw materials for batteries. This will continue and could eventually worsen as demand for these raw materials increases," Frohlich said.

    During this interview Frohlich also toned down the general rhetoric surrounding electric cars and their impending takeover; "so even though BMW continues to actively develop and pursue all-electric models, doubt remains.

    That is clear across the industry, as everyone who produces electric cars struggles to make a profit selling those vehicles."

    Editor's Note: May 14, 2019: WSJ: Battery-powered cars are about to hit dealerships in much greater numbers, but hold more financial promise for M&A advisors than manufacturers. "M&A advisers are in a better position than (EV) manufacturers to make money from the electric future."

    Editor's Note: April 10, 2019; Mr. President You Gotta Stop These Naïve and Treasonous US Senators From Gifting Chinese And Other Off-shore Electric Vehicle Auto Makers Billions Of Dollars

    EDITOR's NOTE: February 6, 2019; General Motors CEO sees EV profits a few years away: Mary Barra said during today's GM earnings call that the company doesn't expect to turn a profit on electric vehicles until "early next decade."

    Opinion From Keith Crain Editor-in-Chief of Automotive News
    Turn off the subsidies for EVs

    Detroit December 3, 2018

    I get nervous when governments try to pick winners and losers because they always seem to get it wrong.

    The U.S. government has handed out huge subsidies on electric vehicles for quite a while — and would appear to have kept Tesla afloat in the process. But it is time to cut EVs free and see if anyone really wants to buy them. Considering all the companies that are pouring billions of dollars into battery-powered electrics, we need to find out if they can survive without government support.

    Tesla has reached the 200,000-sale threshold where federal EV credits start to phase out, and General Motors is about to hit that level. No other automaker is close to reaching that mark in the U.S.

    Car companies are investing billions of dollars in EVs and autonomous vehicles without any hue and cry from consumers suggesting they are willing to pay for this new technology.

    Meanwhile, several folks out there are lobbying for liquid gas subsidies, and I am sure that all the diesel producers in the world would appreciate it if the government would throw a few thousand dollars in subsidies on diesel engines. No doubt the manufacturers of autonomous vehicles will start crying for some sort of incentives as well. The debate about who should get help and how much will go on and on.

    The car business is very competitive and there is always some technology looming that promises to revolutionize the business. But why don't we simply let the marketplace decide?

    President Donald Trump has threatened to eliminate GM's EV subsidies because of the company's decision to close plants in the U.S. But eliminating EV subsidies should not be a penalty for GM.

    It is simply time to eliminate all electric vehicle subsidies.

    It is time to let these companies and these EVs survive on their own.

    Why not ethanol, diesel, natural gas?

    You can reach Keith Crain at kcrain@crain.com

    SEE ALSO TACH Green-vehicle Content Library
    SEE ALSO: China Vows To Reduce Number Of EV Makers (9/13/2021)
    SEE ALSO: Chinese Real Estate Developer Now Electric Vehicle Maker Announces Production Capacity
    SEE ALSO: It's Batteries or Bicycles, China Has No Choice Other Then To Push EV's


    SEE ALSO: Bloomberg Opinion, Another Big EV Battery Fantasy, Another Letdown

    Editor's Note: New EV Corporate Welfare Proposed - WTF?: https://t.co/bcih8JKD5B?amp=1
    •New legislation is expected to be introduced by a group of bipartisan (Stupid Self Serving Politicians From Auto Making States, Helping China Again) lawmakers today to expand the electric vehicle tax credit by 400K vehicles per manufacturer, according to Reuters.
    •The "Driving America Forward Act" would give each automaker a $7K tax credit for an additional 400K vehicles in addition to the current 200K vehicles eligible for the $7.5K tax credits. The phase-out period would be shortened to nine months. The legislation would also extend the hydrogen fuel cell credit through 2028.
    •The bill is sponsored by Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins and Democratic Representative Dan Kildee

    Editor's Note: October 20, 2018; Bloomberg: The Dirt on Clean Electric Cars

    Editor's Note: October 5, 2018; CARB, GM, SoCal Edison and Others Join Forces to Keep California in the Lead of the Great Electric Vehicle Scam +VIDEO

    Editor's Note: August 16, 2018; Chinese Real Estate Developers Invest Big Yuan In China's Future EV Monopoly Without Government Pressure, I'm Sure)

    Editor's Note June 25, 2018; China EV Monopoly Aided By Stupid US Politicians - Nine U.S. States Pressure Automakers on EVs

    Editor's Note June 20, 2018; Batteries or Bicycles, China Has No Choice Other Then To Push EV's; China’s Ambition to Power World's Electric Vehicles Took A Giant Leap Forward This Week

    Have they gone crazy on EVs? (Automotive News Editorial)
    Except in China, where government rules and objectives are easier to implement and enforce, electric vehicles seem to be headed for a disastrous conclusion. Read More

    IEEE Editorial By VACLAV SMILE November 20, 2017; Electric Vehicles Aren’t Taking Over Our Roads as Fast as Hype Artists Claim.Both the rate of EV adoption and the environmental benefits the vehicles will produce have been oversold

    Editor’s Note April 18, 2017; A survey taken among 158,000 young people ny www.drivers-test.org 70% of Millennial's Prefer Traditional cars over EV's

    Editor’s Note February 21, 2017; Forecast from IHS Markit:"Despite the daily publicity, sales of BEV (battery electric vehicles) and PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) light vehicles also were relatively flat between 2015 and 2016, according to IHS Markit analysis, despite the ever-present longer-term growth fundamentals. Global BEV production remains significantly below 1 million units and will represent just 0.7 percent of new vehicle supply globally in 2017, according to IHS Markit forecasts. "

    Editor’s Note November 11, 2016; California Reaches 250,000 EV's Out Of 25 Million Cars Registered

    Editor’s Note November 11, 2016; China To Phase Out EV Subsidies, Shift Funds Towards Technological Research & Sales Target Incentives

    Editor’s Note March 12, 2016; Excerpt from WSJ Editorial, "Voters Should Be Mad at Electric Cars": When averaged over Tesla’s total U.S. sales, the combined subsidies amount to $20,000 per car, and in California upward of $45,000. And for what purpose? Electricity, in America, is largely produced from fossil fuels. If the electric system were somehow converted to renewables, then it wouldn’t matter how we powered our cars, because passenger cars account for less than 8% of global greenhouse emissions.

    Editor’s Note February 4, 2016; Tesla Confirms That Built-in EV Range Not Always Practical In Real World USA Driving

    Editor’s Note January 21, 2016; Fuel-cell Madness

    Editor’s Note May 22, 2015; Obama Scales Back Overly Ambitious Goals for Electric Car Use

    Editor’s Note September 4, 2014; U.S. EV Sales Ran Out Of Juice In August 2014

    Editor’s Note May 23, 2014; CEO of Fiat asks public to "NOT BUY Fiat 500e EV because Fiat loses over $14,000 on each one they sell.". The 500e is a zero emissions car built under duress (blackmail?)so as to allow Chrysler to circumvent onerous fleet emissions limits and sell profitable (emission producing) vehicles in the USA's number one car market, California.

    Editor’s Note May 14, 2014; Toyota sees the light cancels EV deal with Tesla to focus on Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles. Fuel Cells Yes - Electric No!

    Editor’s Note December 30, 2013; Here is an abstract of a story written by journalist Beth Braverman for The Fiscal Times titled Why You Won't Be Driving an Electric Car in 2040: "Despite lots of hype among techies and tree-huggers, the demand for electric vehicles has stalled at dismally low levels. Even as sales of electric cars inch up each year, the total number of plug-in vehicles sold since 2010 is less than 160,000 cars, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association. The bad news continues: a new federal report expects demand to remain that way for the next 25 years. By 2040, the sale of new electric vehicles and new hybrid electric vehicles will comprise about 1 percent each of all new car sales. That would be an increase from last year’s sales of electric vehicles, which were “negligible,” according to the report. The bleak outlook is bad news for car companies that have heavily invested in electric vehicles, and for the Obama administration, which has set an ambitious goal of having a million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015."(click HERE for complete article.

    Editor’s Note October 9, 2013;Battery maker A123 Systems is shifting its focus to small, hybrid-cars and away from fully-electric vehicles in a reflection of the slowly developing market for electric vehicles, the company's new chief executive said on Tuesday. The company expects electric vehicles won't now become a major part of global auto demand for many years. However, new batteries for start-stop systems and hybrids are forecast to grow quickly as auto makers seek inexpensive ways to improve fuel economy in gasoline-powered cars, said Chief Executive Jason Forcier.

    Editor’s Note July 1, 2013; Unclean at Any Speed - Electric cars don’t solve the automobile’s environmental problems

    Editor’s Note June 24, 2013; China Pull's Plug On Direct Consumer EV Purchase Subsidies

    Editor’s Note, May 26, 2013: Project Better Place filed for liquidation this morning. Better Place made international headlines several years ago with an imaginative (but unsuccessful) solution to the primary problem of electric cars (range and charging time) by swapping out batteries at roadside service stations rather than recharging them. (Good idea to raise investment money a bad idea for motorists.)

    Editor’s Note May 1, 2013; CODA Holdings, Inc. announced that it is focusing its business strategy on the growing energy storage market(instead of Electric Vehicles that didn't sell).

    Editor’s Note April 24, 2013; The New York Times published THIS ARTICLE chronicling the travails (to put it mildly) of once darling Fisker Automotive, a company that was given a $529 million federal loan in 2009 to advance its vision of an EV future…just about the time that The Auto Channel published the editorial below; December 7, 2009 (Pearl Harbor Day - How appropriate).

    How could we be so smart and the suits (or dumbasses) in DC be so stupid. Today as the NYT so ably reported: No one answers the phones these days at Fisker Automotive. Its visionary founder has quit; its employees have been laid off or put on furlough without pay. Production of its sleek plug-in hybrid car, the Karma, ended months ago. Veering on the edge of bankruptcy, without a buyer in sight, Fisker has become — to lawmakers and others — the Solyndra of the electric car industry. Not only private backers but millions of dollars in government loans gave life to a company, some would argue, that was a shaky investment from the start. No electric vehicle initiative backed by Washington seems more of a debacle than Fisker, which was given a $529 million federal loan in 2009 to advance the project. Fisker, with its technical problems, management turmoil and mounting losses, offers a cautionary tale in the fiercely competitive arena of alternative-fuel vehicles and of government subsidies for start-up businesses.

    Hmmm, all the keepers of our tax dollars needed to do was pay attention to the advice of the founders of The Auto Channel, a couple of Brooklyn Boys who seem to be able to smell the bullshit generated by those in charge of diverting America’s attention from renewable fuels like Ethanol that really work, to EV’s that really don’t and won’t.

    Editor’s Note February 4, 2013; Seems we have been right all along, according to the Detroit News electric vehicles and plug-in electric hybrids are off to a tough sales start in January, after a disappointing 2012. GM reported that sales of its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt rose 89 percent to 1,140 in Jan 2013, over January 2012. But that's still much lower than recent months — including the 2,633 Volts sold in December. It's the fewest Volts sold in a month since February 2012, when GM sold just 1,023.

    Toyota said January 2013 sales of the Prius plug-in fell from 1,361 in December to 874 in January; Nissan said January 2013 Leaf EV sales fell 3.8 percent over 2012 to 650 — and by more than half over December's 1,489 sold. Ford is now offering lease discounts of more than $10,000 on its slow-selling electric Focus and dropped the base price of the Focus EV by $2,000 for cash sales and is offering up to $10,750 off for three-year-leases. Ford which sold just 685 of the 1,627 Focus EVs it built in 2012, making it one of the poorest performers among electric vehicles on the market.

    Editor’s Note January 10, 2013; You can now get a 24 month lease a Nissan Leaf (MSRP around $38,000) with a total of $3827 at signing for $99 a month, sounds like a firesale to us.

    Editor’s Note October 30, 2012; Millions without power in North East US...so what happens to those do good'ers with EV's that can't be charged - nuff said!

    Editor’s Note October 16, 2012; Today, after years of struggling with weak sales and mounting losses, A123 Systems the poster child for electric-car battery manufacturing filed for bankruptcy protection. (June 2018 Update - China's EV Makers Are Doing More Than OK - Changan breaks ground on 20 billion yuan ($3.1 Billion) EV plant in Nanjing)

    A123's demise reflects the truth that Americans have been slow (rightfully so we believe) to buy EV's because they're expensive, have limited range and can run out of power on longer trips. Lackluster sales of EVs and batteries left A123 Systems Inc. with huge losses and a plunging market value.

    The A123 Systems Michigan plants which were paid for with the help of a $249 million U.S. Government grant from taxpayer's funded stimulus are another example of Obama's failed and failing "All of the Above" alt fuel policy.

    Editor’s Note August 28, 2012; At a media event held at the Chrysler Belvedere plant last week, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, was quoted as saying; ”The economics of EVs simply don’t work, on the (Fiat) 500 that Chrysler will begin selling in the U.S. next year, we will lose over $10,000 per unit despite the retail price being three times higher (than the standard ICE)” He went on to reveal that, “… the electric Fiat 500 is being built strictly as a compliance car to meet requirements in California and other CARB states for electric vehicles.” If this is not more agreement with our Electric Vehicle diversionary fairy tale position, what is?

    Editors Note May 20, 2012; Electric Car Makers Can Sell Their ZEV Credits So Other Car Makers Can Continue To Sell Gasoline Powered Vehicles in California

    Verrry interesting, another way to force EV's on a non-interested public. You all know how skeptical The Auto Channel has been about the practical and economic value of EV’s unless or until a major Star Trek-like breakthrough changes the physics of batteries.

    But this new wrinkle on a dubious, but good intentioned requirement, has morphed into a work-around for future ZEV development, and will insure that the few EV makers will make profit not from selling electric or other ZEV cars, but from their subsidization by non-ZEV car makers and California’s car buyers.

    Deep pocketed car companies that want to continue to sell gas guzzlers and other old fashioned anti-American fuel powered vehicles in sunny California (along the other States committed to follow the California requirement) can do so without ever concerning themselves with a move to sustainable domestic fuel to power their products.

    EV makers will be able to price their offerings low enough so as to actually sell them and make their profit from selling their earned and unneeded ZEV credits (like GM made $ billions from 1921-1974 not from selling cars profitably but from royalities generated from ownership of leaded gasoline), so the non ZEV car makers can continue selling in California and keep the old fashioned gasoline status quo …this has gotta make OPEC happy.

    EDITOR'S NOTE May 2, 2012; In April 2012 about 3,500 electric vehicles were sold in the U.S., down from about 4,000 sold in March. 1,462 Chevy Volts in April, up 200 percent from the 493 sold in April 2011, but down from the 2,289 sold in March 2012. Nissan sold 2,103 Leafs in the first four months of the year meaning that it needs to average more than 2,200 a month to hit its sales target. Mitsubishi sold 79 MiEV in April, up from 56 in March. And Ford sold zero Focus Electrics for the third straight month, Hmmm we guess the market is smarter than the car makers. Now let's give consumers a real choice by offering $1.50 a gallon alcohol-based fuels.

    EDITOR'S NOTE April 25, 2012: OK, I'm not going to list all of the EV woes over the past 6 months, but thought it important for you to know that automotive engineers are finally able to tell the truth about EV's.

    At the 2012 Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress held in Detroit yesterday, the top executives of EV programs at Ford, GM, Chrysler and Honda each echoed our 5 year old opinion that EV's will not now and may never have a meaningful impact on America's NEED to replace gasoline with a sustainable and domestic fuel.

    So there you go, the past 5 year's of Oil company propaganda, U.S. Department of Energy $billions wasted for EV smart grid and battery research, Politician's fairy tales (told because of ignorance or bribery or both) and a disgracefully arrogant (and stupid) sycophantic mainstream press and politically beholden talk show hosts, have collectively helped establish and maintain the EV diversion, resulting in the delay of the implementation of a real and timely alt fuel solution.

    This diversion has had the effect of keeping Big Oil in the green, while the rest of us suffer under the yoke of their 100 year old anti-America monopoly. Time to get pissed America, Time to get Pissed.

    EDITOR'S NOTE January 5, 2012: A KPMG Survey released today reported that despite continuing heavy investment by auto makers in electric propulsion technologies, global automotive executives don't expect e-car sales to exceed 15 percent of annual global auto sales before 2025. Complete Article

    EDITOR'S NOTE January 4, 2012: 2011 U.S New Light Vehicle Sales 12,800,000; 2011 EV Sales Scorecard: Nissan Leaf (100% Electric) 9,674, Chevrolet Volt (EV/Hybrid) 7,671 with a direct cost of $7,500 each to the American taxpayers for a total of $130,087,500 (not including $BILLIONS in DOE research grants, smart grid grants and other fairy tale expenditures...EV's are not now and will never become a meaningful replacement for gasoline addiction, unless the physics of batteries is advanced to Jetson knowledge… I have more faith in Flux Capacitors... do you?

    EDITOR'S NOTE January 4, 2012: American consumer interest in Plug-ins continues to decline Pike Research Report

    EDITOR'S NOTE December 8, 2011;: Today's news: EV News from Mitsubishi starting delivery of their EV, AMP showing another EV in Detroit, was bad (realistic?) EV news; EV maker Aptera goes bankrupt; Tesla downgraded; Pike Research says EV and Hybrids less than 5% of U.S. Market in 2017; and other stories.

    EDITOR'S NOTE July 19, 2011: Autoline Daily reported on their TV newscast that Steven Chu the U.S. Secretary of Energy was in Detroit yesterday to talk-up battery developments for electric cars. That’s because the Obama Administration is counting heavily on electric cars to meet its proposed CAFE standard of 56.2 miles per gallon. But even Secretary Chu admitted there’s only a 50-50 chance batteries will be plentiful and affordable by 2021...and he’s an optimist!

    Recently there has been a slew of slowdowns and cancellations in the EV world. JCI wants to back out of its battery joint venture with Saft. Renault has delayed the construction of its battery plant in France. And there are rumors Nissan will delay building EVs and batteries in the U.S.

    Secretary Chu also visited battery maker A123’s plant in the Detroit area to celebrate them hiring their 1,000th employee, so far the Department of Energy has granted $249 million to A123 to make batteries in Michigan. That means it has cost $249,000 to create each of those jobs. Now, that cost may drop over time, but it certainly calls into question whether electric cars will be cost-effective any time soon



    SEE ALSO: EV's Are The Only Vehicles Built On Wall Street
    SEE ALSO: 90% of Americans don't have easy access to public EV chargers
    SEE ALSO: Unclean at Any Speed - Full article with info-graphics
    SEE ALSO: China's "Father of Electric Cars" Disowns First Child Before Maturity, Now Says Hydrogen Is the Future of Automobiles +VIDEO
    SEE ALSO: China Inc (Or What Ever Communist China Is): Real Estate Developers Invest In Future Chinese EV Business (No Government Pressure I'm Sure)
    SEE ALSO:China EV Monopoly Aided By "Tra-la-la" US Politicians - Nine U.S. States Pressure Automakers on EVs
    SEE ALSO: Who's Supply, Who's Demand? World Petroleum Use Sets Record High In 2012
    SEE ALSO:GUSHER OF LIES - Book Review and Reply to Robert Bryce
    SEE ALSO: We Need A Non-Exportable Alt Fuel
    SEE ALSO: Our "Opium War" With Gasoline
    SEE ALSO: J.D. Power-Demand for Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles Over-Hyped
    SEE ALSO: WSJ Sees Bumpy Road For Electrics
    SEE ALSO: Big Oil Benefits From "Divide and Conquer"
    SEE ALSO: The Ultimate Driving Distraction Electric Vehicles
    SEE ALSO: NO NEW GASOLINE-POWERED VEHICLES IN THE U.S. BY 2014...Can It Be Done?
    SEE ALSO: Alcohol and Driving DO Mix
    SEE ALSO: The Stagnation of Natural Gas Vehicles in America
    SEE ALSO: America's Problem-American Solution!


    Co-publisher's Note: Thank you for your interest in reading a summary of our views on ethanol. It's a big important subject, with many aspects to understanding it, and it's all surrounded by lots of misinformation primarily invented by the oil industry. So, having one thing that summarizes my views is probably my 600-page book "THE ETHANOL PAPERS." The entire book is available to read online for free as a flipbook. You can find it by: CLICKING HERE.

    Since the initial publication of the digital and hard copy versions of THE ETHANOL PAPERS in 2019, I have published another book related to ethanol "YES, TIN LIZZIE WAS AN ALCOHOLIC." This one is much shorter, focusing on the Ford Model T as a multi-fuel vehicle and it deals with some of the political issues related to alcohol fuels, such as Prohibition. I've also written and published another 100+ essays and reports. The book about the Model T is also available to read for free online by CLICKING HERE.

    If you would like to read and own the books in hard copy form you can purchase them at AMAZON BOOKS:


    Among the best of my recent essays are the following:




    PHOTO
    "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.' Peter Finch in NETWORK, 1976.

    *SEE ALSO :Tulip Mania Wikipedia


    PHOTO (select to view enlarged photo)
    Tulip-deranged Dutchman leading the common folk into the sea. Substitute EV Over-Promoters for the tulip-frenzied. (Hendrik Gerritsz Pot; Allegory of Flora's Wagon of Fools around 1640.)