TimeHorse
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
- 999
I am really sick of these companies trying to belittle each other, but that's the nature of the beast. I suppose it comes from living in Washington, D.C. and hearing the politicians accentuating their differences while never highlighting their common ideas or even show a willingness to compromise. But leave the politicians out of it, this is about 10 companies:
And how they each approach the BEV problem. The one-upmanship of each of them will IMHO work to our advantage. I was asking a lot on the pre CES announcement chat about the Charger for the Focus and they told me to "wait for the official announcement"; I've told Nissan numerous times I want a 6.6kW charger in my LEAF, blogged about it and even created a Facebook Advocacy group. Nissan would be insane to not include that as at least an option on the 2012 LEAF, the first LEAF I will be able to buy. And as for trunk space, yeah, Ford didn't design the car right; keeping the battery low and thus having a lower center of gravity is always going to lead to better handling. Liquid cooling the battery is a better design, IMHO, but I don't think Ford playing that card will budge Nissan. And we've yet to see the big 2 Japanese make any kind of serious effort, never mind the German Lease-only contributions. The Coda, IMHO is a joke and probably based on poorly-copied stolen technology. I trust Tesla in design but I think even the S Class is going to be unreasonable expensive for the general commuter car. And, honestly, GM and Toyota need to get it through their thick skulls that we aren't stupid, we know the pros and cons of a BEV so just make one; PHEVs are great, don't get me wrong. PHEVs make excellent second cars, as EVNow pointed out months ago. But this is about BEVs, guys. Ford has it right: make some of each. But so does Nissan: Nissan isn't going to stop producing Altima Hybrids or Maxima or Z or any of their other models just because they make the LEAF. Sure, they're missing out on PHEV, but Nissan is in no way a one-trick pony as Ford is making it out to be. Tesla is. Coda is. But not Nissan.
Anyway, the long and the short of it is we live in interesting times, my friends. We live in interesting times.
- Tesla & its Roadster (not consumer priced)
- GM/Chevrolet & the 2011 Volt (technically a PHEV)
- Nissan & the 2011/2012 LEAF
- Ford & the 2011 Focus Electric
- Tesla & the S Class (Minivan; price unknown)
- Coda from China (I repeat, From lead-poising, tainted milk China)
- BMW & the Mini-E (Limited Lease only)
- Mercedes-Benz & the Smart-Electric (Limited Lease only)
- Mitsubishi & the MiEV (Is there even a release date for this one?)
- Toyota & the 2012 Prius (also a PHEV)
- Honda & its 2013 BEV TBD
And how they each approach the BEV problem. The one-upmanship of each of them will IMHO work to our advantage. I was asking a lot on the pre CES announcement chat about the Charger for the Focus and they told me to "wait for the official announcement"; I've told Nissan numerous times I want a 6.6kW charger in my LEAF, blogged about it and even created a Facebook Advocacy group. Nissan would be insane to not include that as at least an option on the 2012 LEAF, the first LEAF I will be able to buy. And as for trunk space, yeah, Ford didn't design the car right; keeping the battery low and thus having a lower center of gravity is always going to lead to better handling. Liquid cooling the battery is a better design, IMHO, but I don't think Ford playing that card will budge Nissan. And we've yet to see the big 2 Japanese make any kind of serious effort, never mind the German Lease-only contributions. The Coda, IMHO is a joke and probably based on poorly-copied stolen technology. I trust Tesla in design but I think even the S Class is going to be unreasonable expensive for the general commuter car. And, honestly, GM and Toyota need to get it through their thick skulls that we aren't stupid, we know the pros and cons of a BEV so just make one; PHEVs are great, don't get me wrong. PHEVs make excellent second cars, as EVNow pointed out months ago. But this is about BEVs, guys. Ford has it right: make some of each. But so does Nissan: Nissan isn't going to stop producing Altima Hybrids or Maxima or Z or any of their other models just because they make the LEAF. Sure, they're missing out on PHEV, but Nissan is in no way a one-trick pony as Ford is making it out to be. Tesla is. Coda is. But not Nissan.
Anyway, the long and the short of it is we live in interesting times, my friends. We live in interesting times.
