Archive for August 22nd, 2006
An exclusive preview of the worlds most exciting electric car
Environment Unlimited | Travel and transport |
Important point to note: that the first hundred were sold before they were even built, so that’s the cash flow issue sorted. The big automakers are sniffing around: pray that they don’t succeed in buying the company. They’ll just shut it down like they did the EV1.
I worry about batteries. I now religiously turn off and unplug my wife’s laptop – which she tends to leave running all day, even though it is little used by the kids who both have access to desktops. It was that Dell story about Sony batteries bursting into flames that did it. This story refers to “liquid cooled” batteries like those in laptops. This seems like a waste of energy to me – unless it is being used for heating and/or cooling the car for the occupants, something that other electric vehicles found problematic.
Plus of course the usual issue (not mentioned here) of where the electricity will come from. In California, probably from more remote, oil and coal fired generating stations I’m afraid. Not zero emissions, just elsewhere emissions.
Major projects in B.C. hit $102 billion
Major projects in B.C. hit $102 billion
And, of course, the worry is now that the construction industry is leading the provincial economy into “over heating”. Bizarre, isn’t it? This outcome was widely predicted – but nothing must ever stand in the way of building the buzz. After all, planning an economy has always failed, hasn’t it?
The trades people now needed are supposed to come from immigration. Which also seems a bit odd, given that there are many immigrants here already who cannot get into their professions thanks to overt protectionism. And would anyone in the right mind move to BC just to get dumped as soon as the boom turns to bust again as it surely will?
The days when governments tried to smooth out the inflationary cycle stopped when the current fad of monetarism took over in treasuries of the west. Hopefully, that will also go the way of other out dated fashions.
Camaros to roll out of Oshawa plant in late ’08
Camaros to roll out of Oshawa plant in late ’08
Yeah, just what Canada needs – another muscle car! The point that caught my attention was that Dalton McGuinty got booed by the union members. After all Ontario has only thrown $500m in subsidies at GM since 2003. I wonder how much has gone to the TTC in that period, and what could have been done to reduce car dependence in Canada’s largest metropolitan region with that kind of investment.
If you must spend it on propping up the North American car industry, why not insist that the subsidies go to more fuel efficient and less polluting vehicles? (Answer: ’cause they might go back to Quebec if we did).
Stephen Rees's blog 