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- alamedaman, on 11/29/2008, -0/+26and we all know, when the German government talks about mobilization, they don't ***** around.
- notwizt, on 11/29/2008, -0/+24Just know that you're not being dugg down because it's not ok to joke about the holocaust and germans, you're being dugg down because it wasn't funny at all.
- idc5, on 11/28/2008, -4/+27Time for America to catch up. I am skeptical of the success of the Chevy Volt
- piratearggghhh, on 11/29/2008, -0/+20American car makers are too busy lobbying for lower standards and begging for money to notice.
- tonmil, on 11/29/2008, -0/+17Hey U.S. you're getting a little competition. Time to throw down the gauntlet.
And now London wants to compete with the SF Bay Area for electric car capital - gridity, on 11/29/2008, -0/+16Yeay Germany! I hope they come out with some cool electric VW's we can buy in the states...
- inactive, on 11/29/2008, -0/+15GM and Ford...might want to take a hint.
- Khast, on 11/29/2008, -0/+14Well, I know who's not getting a Christmas card from OPEC this year........
- Supergliding, on 11/28/2008, -2/+14might have something to do with Germany's solar industry :-)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3430319,0 ... - Ghoztt, on 11/29/2008, -4/+14We could've done this YEARS ago. But, human greed and ignorance... well... see for youself:
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectricca ... - penguinofspades, on 11/29/2008, -3/+10its not even competition. Germany is going to have 1,000,000 electric cars on the road by 2020, and we might have our SUV's off of it by then. But at least gays won't be getting married.
- Conwaysb0718, on 11/29/2008, -1/+8haha... the blitzauto... first deployment: Poland.
- Cyrus042, on 11/29/2008, -0/+6I could definitely go for a BMW electric car in the future.
- notwizt, on 11/29/2008, -2/+8Electric cars being used widely is something that I'm dreaming of seeing in my lifetime. If you ask me, go for nuclear until we develop better technologies. What limited oil we have left should be used for making plastics, not driving fat people around the US or driving tanks around the desert.
- SpykerSpeed, on 11/29/2008, -2/+7My problem is that taxation is evil, because it involves force. What's wrong with a voluntary society?
- groo68, on 11/29/2008, -1/+6I want one. It's the only American car i would buy. even if they are reliable these days i don't like any of their designs.
- inactive, on 11/29/2008, -0/+5Dear Germany,
Have a very Merry Xmas. Enclosed is two million barrels of oil.
Love, Saudi Arabia
P.S. Why did you leave me? :( - SpykerSpeed, on 11/29/2008, -4/+8When governments set these arbitrary goals it really exposes how pointless they actually are. People WILL convert to driving electric cars, eventually. We don't need government X or government Z to tell us to do this. Politicians should go back to being productive members of society rather than creating command economies through taxation.
- Jambi, on 11/29/2008, -0/+4Top Gear has a magazine too? And as for where the power could come from, I suggest nuclear. It certainly hasn't hurt France or Japan over the past 25 years.
- przemeklach, on 11/29/2008, -1/+5Every time I hear something about Germany doing well in the green energy sector I get furious. Not at Germany but at my own government (Canada). Our country has so many resources and so much potential to make huge leaps in green technology but we are doing nothing because of the dinosaurs that are in power. For example, there was a company here that developed a new technique for making solar panels. These solar panels where more efficient and cheaper to make then what was currently available on the market. The CEO of the company spent years asking the government for help and got nothing. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Guess what, the German government called him up and said that they would like to have him move to Germany and that they would pay for half the cost of the factory. Now, the guy has one wing of the factory done and with the amount of orders that he has that one wing is booked for the next 5 years. Instead of bailing out out dinosaur industries like forestry, cars and oil maybe the money should go to technology.
- EnderMB, on 11/29/2008, -3/+6Right, so where will ALL that electricity come from? I mean, using solar power is one thing, but when you're trying to power a million electric cars in a country like Germany you'll need one hell of an infrastructure to deal with that kind of demand. Cars will eventually go clean, but we need a lot more research into reusable power before we try and accomplish such goals.
(A select few from the UK might remember this argument from the latest Top Gear issue. Go pick it up, because Jeremy Clarkson talks a lot of truth.) - xtal3, on 11/29/2008, -0/+3Yeah, hopefully with no American companies blocking progress it wouldn't turn out like all the compact diesels they used to sell here :(
- kingbinji, on 11/29/2008, -0/+3very plausible...our technology is exponentially growing so there's no knowing where we'll be in over a decade. just think of where we were in 1995 to put things into perspective.
- Pyrad1337, on 11/29/2008, -0/+3I imagine Honda and Toyota have electric cars that will come out at a similar time to GM to steal the Volt's thunder.
- Conwaysb0718, on 11/29/2008, -0/+35 bucks says you've been reported...
- afruff23, on 11/29/2008, -1/+4"Humans occupy it, and humans are too greedy and short sighted to do what needs to be done without external guidance..."
So what's the government made up of? Zombie aliens? - TheDougem, on 11/29/2008, -0/+3Why, oh why do people support solar and wind so much but seem to so blatantly ignore nuclear power? It's such a simple solution!
And Top Gear owns. - feliks2, on 11/29/2008, -1/+4You say that as if the US is currently a leader.
- afruff23, on 11/29/2008, -1/+3@sodade
How so? Surely you must have some evidence. You never use violence in your day-to-day life to get things done, do you? - inactive, on 11/29/2008, -0/+2I didn't say that. I said "Electric Cars running off power from coal power plants are actually more damaging to the environment than petrol cars." which is a fact. Even Greenpeace admits it.
- Jambi, on 11/29/2008, -1/+3Yeah, the poster above me is right. GM, Ford... you'd better get your lobbyists to Capitol Hill and get an electric car tax passed right away, or those damn Germans might end up with the whole U.S. market, if the Japanese don't beat 'em to it!
- feliks2, on 11/29/2008, -0/+2I'm starting to feel a little bad for them at this point.
- Conwaysb0718, on 11/29/2008, -0/+2the plug wont fit!!
- sodade, on 11/29/2008, -0/+2***** VW - my Passat is a maintenance money pit. Toyota/Honda/Nissan from now on.
- sniperpants, on 11/29/2008, -0/+2I thought that pluging in your car requires energy from your power company which could either be nuclear or coal. Most places on the west coast are run on coal, I don't see how an electric car could make things any better.
- Schmich, on 11/29/2008, -1/+3"Don't build electric cars because there are coal power plants." With that mentality we get nowhere as there's the other way around: "Why invest millions in more (clean) energy production, moving away from coal power plants, when there are no electric cars that need it?"
- inactive, on 11/30/2008, -0/+2Bailing out the U.S. auto industry - irresponsible. Encouraging the adoption of renewable-energy vehicles - responsible. The best examples of right action are not always american. What the Germans are planning is great. I only wish it were more. One wonders why it should take so long for what seems such a small measure. Perhaps it is not as small as it seems. There's reason for more bold action.
- futebollounge, on 11/29/2008, -0/+2a little competition!???? upon walking through the city of freiburg (Germany) last summer, my first thought was how backwards America was with the kind of cars they allow on the streets and even the whole green efficiency theme altogether. Although one must consider the fact that America has a much larger population and is stretched out as ***** to the point where people in the northwest are so different from southerners that they might as well be two different countries! point being, cities in Germany get influenced by one another very rapidly (maybe being compact has something to do with it) (just a though)), which would make this whole electric car thing by 2020 actually work.
- inactive, on 11/29/2008, -0/+2Electric Cars running off power from coal power plants are actually more damaging to the environment than petrol cars.
- rolf, on 11/29/2008, -1/+2Somewhat, although electric cars are agnostic as to where the electricity comes from. Germany has more than its share of eco-nuts though - that oppose nuclear power at all costs, and are at the mercy of their neighbors who supply them with electricity at they have an energy deficit (sometimes through coal, sometimes through nuclear) - so instead of having a nice clean source of electricity they can directly manage and oversee in a responsible fashion, the eco-nuts really are just irresponsible not-in-my-backyarders who want to feel good about themselves.
I hope they get decent hybrids like the Aptera built over there. Even if a car is all electric, it's still not more environmentally responsible if it takes way more energy to move it than it has to be. - vault, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1What went wrong with it?
- bdtjpw, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1The switch to all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will work in Germany and any place with high prices for gasoline. We got to those prices in the U.S. this summer, but prices collapsed as worldwide demand retreated with the global recession. Many countries (and the state of Alaska) fund a lot of their government operations out of petroleum taxes. If we taxed petroleum to keep prices in the $4 to $5 a gallon range, and divided up a portion of the revenue like Alaska does, we would be sending the right price signals. People would have enough income to cover their fuel costs, but they would have an incentive to conserve and switch to alternative fuels and vehicles. Then the Chevy Volt, public transit, and other alternatives would make sense, and the auto industry could offer a sensible business plan for survival.
- Pyrad1337, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1Ideally, cars could be charged at night when there is more power available than demand.
Ideally... - KarthVader, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1Although there is some blatant hatred of some American cars, I think Top Gear is one of the premier car review shows/magazines. I wish they would review more average consumer cars, but hey, when am I going to get the chance to test drive a Lamborghini Reventon, much less buy one?
- tonmil, on 11/30/2008, -0/+1Unfortunately the Volt won't ship for 24 months: Nov 2010 is the planned 1st ship date. I think it's mostly due to the battery not really lasting for 40 miles. Otherwise it's hard to imagine why it would take so long.
- wilhoitm, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1Me too!
- axelgrease, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1That's a pretty sizable goal. If the U.S. could follow in those footsteps we would be set.
- afruff23, on 11/29/2008, -1/+2"Do you have any examples of a completely voluntary society working?
Couldn't I have said the same thing about democratic republicanism 400 years ago?
And yes, you are an example of a voluntary society working. You don't use violence in your day-to-day life to get things done.
"But in the case of many of these things people wont do them unless forced to"
There are plenty of ways to do things like stop murder and theft without forcing people to do so. For example, people who killl can be boycotted by people who care enough about murder. This amounts to a death sentence since nobody in a typical location can survive without essential services like electricity and water. But I would imagine that he would be given the choice between dying (since the road owners would not want a murderer traveling their roads) and some form of house arrest. - randumbusername, on 11/30/2008, -0/+1tell your state to catch up.
- Pyrad1337, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1I'm all for electric cars, and am eagerly waiting for the Chevrolet Volt. I'm waiting for the 2nd generation Volt because I know better than buying a first generation product *cough*iPod*cough*.
I concern that few people have looked it is how this will affect tax revenues. Every government makes significant income from gas taxes. Some of these taxes pay for the maintenance of roads. I'm curious how governments will expect to pay for road maintenance when they lose significant amounts of gas tax revenue. Will they start taxing electricity? Will they tax only the electricity going to cars? -
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