"Our brave new world gets one step closer every day. 2020 for a bunch of new electric cars? That is like tomorrow."
This weekend on the news, there was a story about Ford producing the 10,000,000th Mustang. Holy smokes! I can remember when the first one rolled off the manufacturing line - it was looked upon as a revolution. In any event, it has been a huge success story for Ford. When asked about the 11,000,000th Mustang, Ford responded by saying it might be a hybrid, coming off the same manufacturing line as all electric cars and electric autonomous cars. A glimpse of our future.
I almost has a laugh out loud moment when on Sunday morning during the DFL gubernatorial debate, one candidate said we needed to raise the gas tax. That statement was just a peek at how out of touch many politicians are. If we are indeed heading full speed into more electric and natural gas cars, why in the world would we be putting all our eggs in one basket? The fewer gasoline cars we sell, the less gas tax will be collected. Duh!
Plus, don't forget this one important thing with our current gas cars. Even though President Trump wants to roll back some of the Obama CAFE requirements for gas mileage, overall cars are still getting more fuel efficient every year. Case in point. My 2013 Avalanche gets about 20% better mileage than my 2002 Avalanche did. Same size truck, same size engine - just better technology.
Back to Ford for a minute. Earlier this year, Ford announced it is sinking $11B into the technology and infrastructure to build 40 new all electric and hybrid cars by 2020 - four years away. GM has announced something similar. By 2020, it will have 20 new all electric or hybrid cars. After that, the future at GM will be 100% electric.
Once again, the DFL is looking to solve tomorrows problems with yesterday's solutions. The real solution which most are reticent to talk about, is a driving tax. Each vehicle, no matter how it is powered, would have a sensor which would record the miles driven. Once a month, the driver would receive a bill from the state and/or the federal government as a tax for miles driven. Like it or not, that is the direction I am sure we are headed.
Our brave new world gets one step closer every day. 2020 for a bunch of new electric cars? That is like tomorrow. And remember, in 2025 things will really change. If you are a change agent or a fan of change, these will be exciting years for you. If you are not - good luck with that one!
Gasoline powered vehicles will be around for a long time. The big reason is profitability.
ReplyDeleteThe stock of tiny Tesla (TSLA) may be worth more than either General Motors (GM) or Ford (F), but it has yet to report an annual profit. Traditional automakers are making billions of dollars selling millions of gasoline-powered cars each.
No one has yet figured out a way to make a profit selling electric-only vehicles.
And the fossil fuel loving Trump will make regulations favoring gas guzzling, carbon emitting vehicles.