[Lanny_MacDonald]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

I don't really follow your point because I'm not very familiar with the EV1, but I'll comment nonetheless. Are you implying that they "killed" the electric car because the technology would threaten the oil industry?

Only partially. GM makes massive amounts of money from maintenance and repairs of their vehicles. With the electric vehicles the mainenance costs are extremely low as there are fewer moving parts. No need for oil changes or transmission fluid changes or transmissions at all. The number of parts to manufacture and maintain an electric car are lesser than a combustion engine vehicle. Killing a platform that would restrict your ability to sell more parts is just good business sense, and GM did just that.

I think "green" technologies are incredibly important not because of the GW implications, but because we live in a world of scarce resources and it's necessary to make better use of those. Furthermore, the true pollutants resulting from our energy usage can and do have a measurable impact on quality of life (e.g. smog).

So, to your example of GM vs. the Asian auto industry.... I guess the pertinent question is "why is Asia developing green technologies and GM is not?" One perspective: GM is in the back pocket of "big oil" and doesn't want to hurt that industry. Another perspective: GM doesn't know how to make these things profitably.

GM had a vehicle that was on the verge of profitability, and they killed it. It made no sense what so ever to kill the EV1 when they did, especially when they had a grassroots movement promoting the vehicle for them. They were into the government's of the western states for fleet sales for crying out loud (Phoenix still has its infrastructure of changing stations in parking garages downtown). GM wanted the platform dead, and they killed it themselves, crushing the vehicles at the proving grounds in Mesa. GM had built the product and it was the best of the vehicles available (including the EV Ford Ranger, EV Toyota RAV4 and hideous product from Honda that escapes me).

Frankly, I don't care why they've been surpassed by the Japanese. The fact is that N. American consumers are buying hybrid vehicles and GM is suffering for it. Eventually, GM will either come around to using greener technologies or it'll go out of business. We don't need our domestic corporations to lead the way in technologies. We certainly don't need to coerce them into unprofitable ventures using political tricks. We simply need individuals such as yourself to lead the way in supporting green technologies and the market will ensure that they are adopted.

True dat, but I think North America should strive to be leaders at everything. It is what made us the envy of the world. With our failure to strive for the top wrung of the ladder, we just hurt ourselves and our place in the world. We wonder why the US buck is dropping like a stone, but its the lack of confidence the rest of the world has in America that is causing it to plunge.