Europe:highest latent demand+greatest ignorance
Hi Billy, at last the word seems to be getting out on Li-ion.
Of course the automakers have ALWAYS dreaded the appearance of a new
generation battery which would make EV's attractive to their traditional
core ICE customer: long-range, high-performance EV's would pose a serious
threat, cutting into sales of the beloved crank&piston vehicles...by
contrast, low-range, small EV's with their deliberately nerdy 'eco-cliche'
design (cf. the 'TH!NK cl!che' with its little-shopper deterrent looks) have
always been the strategy adopted to ensure that EV's remain firmly
demarcated as a niche product with a minority appeal. Hence the incredible
silence surrounding the excellent, attractive, family-sized Nissan Altra
which is of course unavailable and unpublicised in 5 dollar-a-gallon Europe
where, if it weren't for the public's carefully preserved ignorance about
EV's, demand for them would skyrocket - just as it would in the US, if gas
at the pumps were also to reach 5 plus dollars a gallon(ie. three plus times
its cuurent levels).
PLEASE US EV FANS - THINK 'GLOBAL'!! It's a real pity that US
EV-crusaders don't adopt a wider global strategy and concentrate on
enlightening painfully overtaxed and/or green-minded Europeans(pop. 500
Million) who would SCREAM for long-range EV's...IF ONLY THEY KNEW THEY
EXISTED!! Carmakers always claim that demand for EV's is subdued...but of
course they always deliberately and misleadingly base these statements
exclusively on the US> consumer response...ask US carbuyers about their
interest in long-range pure electric vehicles when they too are paying 5
dollars a gallon! When it comes to assessing demand for ICE-alternatives -
to paraphrase a certain Bond film - "The World is NOT the USA" and "The USA
is NOT Enough". US EV-crusaders could truly embarrass the major carmakers by
unleashing a tsunami of public interest here in Europe - where the iron is
more than just hot - it's molten. (The traditional media won't of course
"talk up" or promote REAL electric alternatives - they are too hugely
subsidised/compromised by the massive, lucrative ICE advertising that they
carry...it'll be up to internet-enlightened EV-angelists like ourselves to
stir it up and blast away the cosy OIL&ICE consensus... )
The work being done by
Electrofuel and the USABC(Superpolymer Lithium Ion) will be frightening the
ICE-protectionists even more of course.
Jim CARLUCCI
