CARazed

In a recent article, on January 24, 2008, long time auto industry reporter Mark Phelan says,

“Bad Karma. Fisker Automotive says the sporty Karma will go on sale in 2009, cover 50 miles solely under electric power, recharge its batteries overnight, use a small engine to recharge on long drives and have a top speed “beyond 125 m.p.h.,” all for $80,000 apiece.

If anybody could do that, GM, Toyota and every other automaker on the planet would pay billions for the technology. I hate to pick on a guy with a dream, and Henrik Fisker’s design credentials are impeccable, but making promises like this without detailed technical support just encourages the conspiracy theorists who insist the auto industry is in league with Big Oil, terrorists, Satan or all of the above.”

I personally hope that all skeptics are proven wrong by the cars the independent start-ups put on the road. The truth is that no one will know how viable cars like the Fisker Karma will be until it has been on the road a while.

Statements like, “ If anybody could do that, GM, Toyota and every other automaker on the planet would pay billions for the technology.”, are as irrational as conspiracy theories because no one but auto industry senior executives know their product development strategies. For all we know auto makers see themselves in a symbiotic relationship with the oil industry and that it’s in the best interest of their company and shareholders to support each other.

In other words, it’s probably not a conspiracy but it might be a business plan. No really, literally a business plan. It’s not unbelievable that one company might want to see the long term viability of one of it’s strongest partners; and no one can argue that today’s cars and fossil fuel aren’t joined at the hip.

Maybe we’re watching the Battle of the Billionaires?

Money is the other thing at work he no one is talking about yet. The money that backs the independent auto makers is mostly coming from Silicon Valley billionaires, venture capitalists, philanthropist investors, and private equity groups. For the most part these people are not involved in the energy or main stream auto industry.

They seem to be capitalizing on the opportunity plug-in hybrids big auto missed by choosing the fuel cell route instead. I’ll leave it to the skeptics and conspiracy theorists to drone on as to why. I’m content to simply think that they have their reasons and it probably has to do with protecting their own business interests.

Luckily for us it looks like the competition the independent auto makers seem to be generating has been enough of a catalyst to move some major auto makers in plug-in hybrid direction. GM and Toyota are now moving in the direction of plug-in hybrids.

On January 23, 2008, the Chicago Tribune reports that,

“GM and Toyota also are fighting for global leadership in technology. Toyota forged ahead with its hybrid technology, but now GM is trying to beat Toyota to market with plug-in hybrid vehicles that can be recharged from household outlets. GM hopes to produce plug-in vehicles by 2010, and Toyota says it expects to have a test fleet of plug-ins on the road by then.”

Personally I can’t wait for 100 mpg cars and making all electric local errands. The cleaner air and peace will be nice too. Far less costly in dollars and blood. Comments?