Worst oil spill? Not so fast

[Care4all]

I am almost to the point of thinking we need to drill our own oil like many countries and take in our own natural resources for ourselves instead of leasing our land for pennies and having others making billions off of it or destroying it....

yes, it would be an initial investment in equipment, but we sure could use the profit to be made, to pay for our astronomical debt.

 

[Old Rocks]

Care, we have only 3% of the world's known reserves, and use 25% of the world's oil production. We cannot drill our way out of this. However, were we using our petroleum only for petrochemical products, like fertilizers and plastics, rather than burning most of it for transportation, we could easily produce all our needs.

We have the technology to switch our personal transportation over to electrically powered vehicles. We have the technology to create that electricity from the rooftops in this nation, and from solar thermal sites, power which is 24-7, in over half the states.

Chevron, through buying some patents, prevented us from having practical electrically powered vehicles about ten years ago. You can find the full story here;

Revenge of the EV1: crushing EV1 crushed GM

Why did GM crush the EV1??

"Range problem??"
FALSE
The NiMH EV1 had an EPA certified range of 140 miles on a charge; none of the EV1 lessees complained about the range. So if the customer wants the car, despite what someone else says, why not sell it to them?

"Liability??"
FALSE
When GM crushed the EV1, it drove away its own customers, who went to Toyota. Toyota was happy to take our money and sell us the Toyota RAV4-EV, last sold in Nov., 2002. If there was no "liability" issue for Toyota, GM did not have that excuse either.

"Not enough electric??"
FALSE
Far from a shortage of electric, being able to buy a plug-in car would actually help the utility grid. The EV1 charges slowly, at night, when there is too much electric; and the money you save NOT buying gasoline will more than pay for your rooftop solar PV system. This isn't fantasy, it's FACT; hundreds of Toyota RAV4-EV drivers put solar on their roof and now drive for free, free of pollution and free of cost since the money they saved paid it off years ago. But you can't do this unless you can buy a plug-in car, none are offered for sale by the Auto Alliance.

"Battery too expensive??"
FALSE
The EV1 came in two "flavors": one using advanced NiMH batteries, and the other using cheaper lead-acid batteries. With PSB EV-EC1260 lead batteries, this EV1 had a range over 100 miles on a charge. The cost of this off-the-shelf battery pack is no more than $4,800. The rest of the EV1 is just electronics and bent metal. As for Nickel, it's entirely recyclable; after the Nickel battery wears out, perhaps 200,000 miles, the only expense is melting it down and "reforming" it into a new battery, using all the old metals and components.

"Cost too much to build??"
FALSE
Lutz stated that the EV1 would cost too much to build. But in 1994, GM bought control of the NiMH batteries under guise of going into production, and, in 1996 and in 2000, famously claimed that it would have leased as many as people wanted, it was a "production vehicle".