Trailer for Chris Paine's "Who Killed the Electric Car?" followup

[wtmusic]

"Revenge of the Electric Car", scheduled for Spring 2011 release. WTF is Thomas Friedman doing in there?

[RickFromMN]

1. I wish electric cars were ubiquitous now.

I have a very personal reason.

I have severe asthma. I was born with very bad asthma.

I can't enter a building that has cigarette smoke.
People cannot smoke around me.

People, who know me, who smoke, change their clothes before visiting me.
Even second hand smoke bothers me.

I can no longer visit the Los Angeles area when it gets smoggy.
I have difficulty visiting the San Jose, Bay Area, when it gets smoggy.

I realize I have to live with my asthma.

I wouldn't object if we had a mix of gas cars and electric cars,
as long as the air quality were made better.

To add to this thread, I believe the following:

China has to improve the air quality of its major cities.
Please do a google search: China crazy bad

China has become the largest car market in the world, surpassing the United States.
Please do a google search: china largest car market

China took drastic action to have cleaner air quality for the 2008 Olympics:
Please see: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090724113548.htm
Google search: Beijing Olympics air pollution

China is promoting electric cars: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7214966.html
I did a google search: Beijing electric car 30000

China plans to be a leading builder of electric cars:
Google search: China electric car government
Example URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/business/global/02electric.html

I fully expect China's plans will meet with resistance internally.
Chinese consumers will resist being told what to purchase.
Chinese car companies will come and go, case in point, I don't know what will happen with BYD.

In the end, China needs to succeed in controlling the air pollution of its major cities.
Replacing a large number of internal combustion engines with electric cars is one way.
There may be other ways...perhaps internal combustion engines can be made clean enough--I don't know.

I believe, now, GM and other car companies made a mistake killing their first electric cars.
If I accept, from them, the battery technology wasn't there, which I believe is why they claim they killed them,
I would suggest they should have been working harder to improve the battery technology.
I believe they killed the electric car because they saw how disruptive it was to their current technology.
I believe they did not wish to cannibalize their existing car market.

As it now stands, China will take the lead in Green technology.
I believe China already has the lead in solar panels.
China will take the lead in the production of cars.
This prediction may be ten years off, fifteen years off, I don't know.

Electric cars will be a game changer.

Please do a google search: Japan electric car fear parts
http://detnews.com/article/20101106/AUTO01/11060322/Engine-firms-fear-extinction
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39979659/Japan_s_Auto_Parts_Makers_Try_to_Anticipate_Shift_to_Electric_Cars

From one of the above articles, "Suzuki Motor, based in Hamamatsu, helped found a regionwide alliance in October that will help parts makers develop new automotive technologies geared toward electric cars, and even other industries."
I haven't heard of a similar thing happening in the United States.

As I say, I can't predict the speed with which electric cars will be adopted.
Please do a google search: electric car adoption rate
Some predict a very slow rate of adoption. Some predict a much faster rate.

Secretary Steven Chu, Department of Energy in the Obama Administration predicts improved batteries are 5 years away.
Please do a google search: electric car battery Chu
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0665833020101206
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-06/competitive-electric-car-battery-may-be-5-years-away-secretary-chu-says.html


I don't know how much time U. S. auto manufacturers and U. S. car parts makers and car engine repair places have for handling this transition...based on some estimates, this transition is still a decade or so away.
Others feel the transition will be much faster.

Personally, I feel the rate of transition depends on China. China needs to do something about its air quality.
The speed with which China acts, I believe, will determine the speed with which electric cars are adopted.

[txlibdem]

2. On the topic of Japanese businesses establishing alliances

That is the normal way business works in Japan: companies ally themselves with other companies and only purchase from them. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement and includes companies that supply all parts and services needed all the way from mining the raw materials to the retail sales end. It's a bit more complex than I describe but you get the idea. For further info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu

I'm definitely with you on the need to move away from fossil burner vehicles and toward electric vehicles and PRT (Personal Rapid Transit).

[wtmusic]

5. China is in the process of building 1,400 new coal plants

so reversing that trend should priority #1 for addressing climate change. IMO the only effective way to do that is with nuclear power, which (with electric cars) will not only clean up the utility sector but transportation as well.

Opinions may vary. :D

[txlibdem]

3. Looks like Fabio might not agree

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEM_dOH_YmU&feature=related

[Kennah]

4. On Friedman

The film crew musta caught him masturbating about cellulosic ethanol, so the interview made the film.