[Shimpy]

Originally Posted by Miles42

To each his own. Nice but not for me.

This is how they do it....They make a vehicle that gets great gas mileage but charge you a premium for buying it so you can save money on gas. It will probably take you about 6 years of keeping that vehicle to break even over a regular vehicle.

[gomoho]

Hats off if you wish to buy an electric car, but dam it, I really don't want to subsidize your $7500 tax break. Let's see how these stand on their own without government manipulation.

[graciegirl]

Smart girl, Gomoho. Maybe one of these days it will be easily affordable and doable to have without government support.


I saw this somewhere today.


Rich people have spending habits like they are broke.
Broke people have spending habits like they are rich.

[Chi-Town]

The $7500.00 is not a lock.

Forbes Welcome

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by rubicon

As Telsa achieves its economies to scale the tax incentives will disappear and once that happens consumer are going to be experiencing sticker shock.

The Telsa3 is some 18 months until the first come off the production line. It has placed Telsa in a cash flow crunch especially since it is heavily funding other projects.

It also is involved in legal fights in 6 states that ban direct sales from auto maker to consumer.

There is no doubt the Telsa is a beautiful car but does it have staying power?

In that same vein NGV's offer the same reduction of greenhouses gases. Natural gas vehicles also ride on renewable methane gas captured from landfills. And you can drive farther distances on a tank and oh you won't be paying for new batteries that presently range from $5,000 to $50,000 to replace.

do I want Telsa to succeed of course

I agree. I don't know why we haven't been on a path to natural gas vehicles for the past thirty years. We have an abundance of the stuff right here. It's easier to get at than oil. We also have an infrastructure in place to get it to existing gas stations. It would take very little to run a line from the street into a filling stations and set up pumps. You wouldn't have the problems of having only 600 recharging stations worldwide or having to replace the batteries after few years. There's also the concern about damage done to the environment in the manufacture of batteries. There'd be no concern about range. In fact you could have a filling station in your own garage. Existing gasoline burning car engines can be converted to burn natural gas fairly easily.
To me, it's a no brainer advantage over electric vehicles.

[justjim]

I guess there is 200,000 that see something in this car that I don't see. I say---no thanks. $42,000 for a car that will go only about 200 miles. You got to be kidding. This car is only a second car at best and on a "benefit analysis" it just doesn't add up. No thanks.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by gomoho

Hats off if you wish to buy an electric car, but dam it, I really don't want to subsidize your $7500 tax break. Let's see how these stand on their own without government manipulation.

that's what I have been saying since the government allowed golf cart buyers a $7500 tax credit. However the tax credit for solar are evaporating.
Telsa would have never survived but for the generous tax benefits he received from both the federal and state governments. You tax away those tax benefits and the company is just not profitable.

The cost of battery replacement for its top of the line vehicles is presently stated to be around $50,000.

So why isn't the government giving more backing to NGV's?...that's a rhetorical question

[tuccillo]

I suspect one target is folks who need a daily driver for work and might be considering 4-door sedans such as an Acura, BMW, or Audi. Many of those folks probably won't spring the $90K for a Model S but would do $40K for a Model 3. They probably like the concept of the Chevy Volt but can't bring themselves to buy a Chevy. Keep in mind that they are marketing to the upper income levels. The range is more than sufficient and many of those folks probably have another gas vehicle so they won't use the Tesla on longer trips.

Originally Posted by justjim

I guess there is 200,000 that see something in this car that I don't see. I say---no thanks. $42,000 for a car that will go only about 200 miles. You got to be kidding. This car is only a second car at best and on a "benefit analysis" it just doesn't add up. No thanks.

[Cisco Kid]

I wonder how this car works for me at 5 below. I turn on the heater and warm the car up for for ten minutes before I drive away. Or is it only for sunny warm days. Will need a backup car?

[OpusX1]

For here in the Villages I would consider this a very nice tricked out cart, it's only two and a half times the cost of the existing tricked out carts and its street legal to boot. They need to make a convertible model for trips to the beach.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by OpusX1

For here in the Villages I would consider this a very nice tricked out cart, it's only two and a half times the cost of the existing tricked out carts and its street legal to boot. They need to make a convertible model for trips to the beach.

An inexpensive vehicle ( about the same costs as a tricked out golf cart) can achieve that goal such as a fiat which gets 40 miles per gallon + and has low maintenance.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

So why isn't the government giving more backing to NGV's?...that's a rhetorical question

I'm guessing it's because the electric lobbyists have contributed a lot more to re-election campaigns than natural gas lobbyists.

And didn't I read somewhere that the manufacture and disposal of batteries does more damage to the environment than burning gasoline for the equivalent number of miles?

[rubicon]

When I moved here in 2006 the most popular cat was electric. Today its gas carts. I wonder why

[Nucky]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Smart girl, Gomoho. Maybe one of these days it will be easily affordable and doable to have without government support.


I saw this somewhere today.


Rich people have spending habits like they are broke.
Broke people have spending habits like they are rich.

That is from Mark Cuban. Great advice. Other great advice from my father...never buy a car in the year it's released....let someone else be the test pilot. Two smart guys.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by rubicon

When I moved here in 2006 the most popular cat was electric. Today its gas carts. I wonder why

Nationwide, electric carts outsell gas by a huge margin. Electrics are less costly to run and maintain and will last a lot longer.

My guess is that there are two reasons as to why there are so many gas carts here. Number one, Yamaha makes the best gas golf carts. They made them even better when the introduce EFI. I don't believe that the developer owns the Yamaha dealerships here, but there certainly seems to be a very close relationship between the two.

Secondly, before the advent of 8 six volt battery configuration and the Ranger batteries, electric were limited to a range of only about 20-25 miles on a charge. As The Villages grew, residents wanted to travel greater distances. The only solution was gas carts.

Also nationwide, there are more Club Cars (mostly electric) sold than any other brand. EX-Go sells more (again mostly electric) than third place finisher, Yamaha. Like I say, there's something different about The Villages where Yamaha seems to be the brand of choice.

Part of this could be the application. Most golf carts sold in the world are sold in fleets to be used on golf courses. If a course can get two rounds a day out it's fleet it will do very well. Until Club Car invented the 48 volt system, two rounds was pushing the limit. The 48 volt system allowed courses to get up to three rounds out of one charge. Still that's only about twelve miles. In The Villages and other golf cart communities people want to be able to travel much more than 12 miles in a day. Now with better electric technology I'm wondering if we'll see the pendulum begin to swing back to electrics.