Electric Car Woes Force Toyota to Abandon Production Plans
It seems like there is no good news to report this week for electric vehicles.
In today’s day and age where gasoline costs $4 a gallon, you would expect to see a surge in the production and sale of electric vehicles. Unfortunately, Chevrolet’s Volt and Toyota’s iQ have performed very poorly and have sent Toyota back to the drawing board. Instead of revamping their idea of an electric vehicle, they have decided to scrap it altogether – with the exception of a very small quantity that they expect to release in the US and Japan.
The important question is why? Why are electric vehicles performing so poorly in a time when they should be heavily sought after? What is making this popular car company abandon all ideas of electric vehicles?
The main factor, in my opinion, that is keeping people from buying electric vehicles is the cost of them. Couple this with newer technology that will inevitably have a few bugs to work out. It is very costly to build new electric vehicles – as evidenced in the case of GM losing out on each Chevy Volt that they produce. Because they are costly to produce, they are costly to purchase and overall, considered a luxury. Granted, gas is over $4 a gallon nearly everywhere, but if people can’t afford to buy the gas, how are they going to afford to buy these expensive vehicles?
In addition, electric vehicles – or EVs as they are commonly referred to – are not like gas powered vehicles in that you can get in and drive them. If the battery power dies, you have to wait several hours for them to charge, which renders them virtually useless while on the plug. At least if a gas powered car is running low on gas you can drive it to the nearest gas station and be on your way.
In addition, where you can reasonably predict what you will get per gallon or tank with a gasoline car, the electric cars are not quite as predictable. Some of them only allow for a 40-60 mile range while others will allow up to 100.
Toyota is not letting this get them down, they are continuing to forge ahead with their hybrid lines in which they expect to create several new models over the next few years. As quick as you can utter Prius Hybrid, you’ll see the new commercials on your television screen pushing the newest models.
What does this mean for EVs? In the present time, since manufacturers continuously lose money on them, it only goes to say that their time has not yet come. Eventually, it will, but that day is not today.
