Electric Car Update

I have Blogged about the advent of electric cars (or electric assisted cars)  before.  Today’s WSJ has a story "California Spurs Electric Cars".  It has little really new information, but it does state that due to California’s strict pollution laws and the new Federal mandate that cars average 54.5 miles a gallon soon, auto makers are having to down play power and speed as a marketing tool, and play up “lower cost of operation”.  And, as this article points out, automakers lose money on every electric car in California  -- $8,000 or so. 

Chrysler will use a Fiat 500 model in California as their all electric offering, losing some money on each car.  But likely they will figure a way to fix the losses once they get going.

What was news to me is that other states are copying California’s new pollution laws,  New York, New Jersey and Maryland are first to follow. Others will probably pile on.  Smog, air pollution, certainly things that affect rich and poor alike. And depreciate property value, so probably hit the rich a bit harder than the poor in terms of dollars.  China is also adopting California like laws, and, having been in Bejing 20 years ago, it was certainly in need of an air clean up. Then.  Much worst now I think.

Also new to me, just last night, was the discovery at our new Whole Foods store here of special parking places for electric cars.  I parked last night next to a space reserved for electric charging vehicles, and saw it had an electric connection kiosk.  So, pregnant ladies, handicap folks, and now electric vehicles seem to be getting special parking places.  

A friend in Northern VA had a Toyota XLS hybrid (fabulous car, I rode in it, super quiet in town and smooth) and just got the top of the line, perhaps plug in Prius. He says he loves it, and takes it on long trips – heads up GPS projection and other advanced things make his prior vehicle look sort of obsolete.

As someone wrote somewhere “There will come a day when we will laugh at the good ole days, when we poured a flammable liquid in our cars, and then sat just above it in the back seat while on the trip”.  On we go.