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If you wonder why President Obama is focused on saving the American automobile industry, if you wonder why he is trying to upgrade and expand the electric grid, if you wonder why he wants government to invest in cutting edge technology in every field, look no further than the test facilities of dozens of auto manufacturers – here and abroad.
I count no less than 9 strictly electric cars heading to market right now, e.g., Aptera 2e, with 8 Plug-In Hybrids, e.g., Chevy Volt, right behind, and another 8 “normal” Hybrids, e.g., Toyota Prius, being improved and prepared for market today.
Big companies like BMW, Mitsubishi and Toyota are getting ready to roll out a slew of electrics. There’s a Mini Cooper available this month, all electric. Other electrics are lining up for introduction over the next four years.
Plug-In Hybrids will be led by the Volt that will do the bulk of its moving on electric power. It’s scheduled for November 2010. Ford, Chrysler and Toyota as well as new companies in China, Europe and here at home all have next generation hybrids in development. There’s a hybrid sports car known as Fisker Karma, and that airplane look alike, the Aptera 2h, set for 2010. Made in California, the only state where it is available right now, the Aptera gets about 300 mpg!! It’s a three-wheeler so technically not classified as a car, but who cares. Bring on that 300 mpg!
Look, it is not only the “green jeans” who will be buying these cars. It is ordinary people like you and me who want to help clean up the environment even as they drive a spiffy car their children won’t make fun of.
I love cars, always have, and that’s why I see an exciting future for America and a strong economy to support that future.
But, boy, have we lost a lot of time! I will not digress into a discussion of what the misadventure in Iraq cost us except to say it cost us something none can retrieve: time. Those who criticize President Obama’s haste on so many fronts should understand he is a man seeking to make up lost time. He is getting a lot of help from inventors in the auto industry who obviously have not been sleeping these past 8 years. President Obama and those in pursuit of scientific discovery are demonstrating a laser-like focus on the great potential remaining to be tapped in a nation of 315 million citizens. His focus is on health care, energy, and transportation.
Obama knows we have a unique opportunity to chart a new path in the way we get around. The answer, when it comes, is likely to have a positive impact on global warming by reducing our contribution to greenhouse gases. But most importantly, increased productivity, resulting from anticipated innovations, will feed real growth that, in turn, will diminish the role of inflation. And that is, unquestionably, our most worthy goal.
If you like the status quo, if you like cars that roar along antiquated roadways, burning a depleting carbon based resource, belching an ever increasing amount of noxious fumes, then you probably can’t see a future that has anything but higher taxes and bigger government in store for you. There are some, however, who see an America whose best days are ahead….and those days are unlike anything we have seen in our entire history.
Don’t you have a feeling the 21st century began on January 20, 2009?