Why the Electric Car will never work!

I remember the late seventies living in California and waiting in line for gas with my dad like it was yesterday! I also remember trading in our Huge Pontiac Bonneville for a Datsun 310, which was the car I was forced to learn how to drive a stick shift on (I'll save that story for another post).

The reason we traded was to fight the rise of fuel costs over a dollar a gallon!

Wow how I would love a dollar a gallon today.

The funny thing is from 1975 to 1982 we saw gas mileage in all vehicles increase from an average of 13.1 mpg to 21.1 mpg. That is a 61 percent improvement over seven years pretty darn impressive. So what has happened since? A lot has happen yet average miles per gallon has only gone from 21.1 to 22.1 for 2005 and worse yet they are predicting 21.0 for 2006! How can this be we were doing so good? Well I am glad you asked, you see it is not the cars that have caused this flatline or possible loss in mileage it is the SUV and Trucks. In 1982 80% of the market sold was cars and today it is only 48% the remaining 52% is Trucks and SUVS. See car mileage alone has improved from 22.2 to 24.6 for 2006 and while it is not spectacular it is better.
Truth is this is simple High School Economics 101, Supply and Demand. You see the demand is for LARGER, FASTER, FLASHY TRUCKS AND SUVS. Until that changes we wont see a dramatic change unless technology changes, something drastic happens with the oil supply or Al Gore is right and global warming starts to destroy the earth ( I AM NOT GONNA HOLD MY BREATH FOR THE LAST ONE).
It is interesting because the auto manufacturers are being pushed to build these "alternative" fuel vehicles and hybrids by a small majority of hypocrites like Al Gore who shows up to a Sierra Club protest in not only a Chevy Suburban, but the gas guzzling stretch version! Well I for one like my big car and believe that if I were suppose to burn fossil fuels God would have not allowed the dinosaurs to roam the earth die and turn to oil for my car! J/K Really, if we are ever to see a change from the behemoth at the top of this blog we have to change the demand in order to see a shift in supply!
But like the average size of the home going from 1400sf in the seventies to 4100sf today I don't see it happening anytime soon!
If any of you want a ride in my wifes new white truck pictured at the top of the page it will be a minimum of $5 for around the block and $20 to go the beach as it is only averaging 5 MPG CITY and 7 MPG HWY! ENJOY!