And the physical personification of their fear is the Volt.

When the price of oil went stratospheric, Big Oil just smiled. Record Profits. The only thing they had to fear was some slow knee-jerk reaction in congress, a windfall tax. They'd seen it all before, back in the 1970's. The bottom line was that people would just bite the bullet and pay $5.00 per gallon for gas in the US, and $9.00 or more in Europe Asia, and Oceania.

But this time was different. You can see it in the blanching faces of executives at GM, and other companies that sell large vehicles. People are changing their habits. People are embracing conservation. Before, conservation was just some wacky concept pushed by hippies and other impractical people. Now, conservation looks like people planning for the future, saying to themselves, "What happens if gas goes to $6.00 per gallon? How will I afford to eat anything other than ramen noodles and catsup/cracker/powdered cheese pizzas? will I have to move home with mom and dad?" That last question can be hard for people whose parents aren't available anymore.

So, now oil is plummeting. I bet Oil Company fat-cats are praying that people will just sigh, and go out and buy used hummers.

I think that the new conservation is here to stay. People don't trust gas to come down and stay down in price. People want to not have to worry about gas prices... so what happens if you buy a Volt? You only use gas when you drive more than 40 miles in a day. And I bet a lot of people are thinking that they can manage to drive less than that most days... hm.

You can see it in the blanching faces of executives at GM, and other companies that sell large vehicles. Give your head a shake. ALL companies sell large vehicles. Some just do it better than others. That won't go away anytime soon, ya hippie!
;)
WOT

Give your head a shake. ALL companies sell large vehicles. Some just do it better than others. That won't go away anytime soon, ya hippie!
;)
WOT

hehe, I should have said, companies that rely on big vehicles for more than 90% of their net profits.

*hides his ponytail in hippy shame*

:D><:D
LOL
(Good post in general though)
WOT

Are you kidding me man? Unless the Eestor device happens to not be a scam the world will be dependent on oil for a long time to come. A few electric cars and economy gasoline cars are not going to change that.

...They'd seen it all before, back in the 1970's. The bottom line was that people would just bite the bullet and pay $5.00 per gallon for gas in the US, and $9.00 or more in Europe Asia, and Oceania.

But this time was different. You can see it in the blanching faces of executives at GM, and other companies that sell large vehicles. People are changing their habits. People are embracing conservation. Before, conservation was just some wacky concept pushed by hippies and other impractical people. Now, conservation looks like people planning for the future, saying to themselves, "What happens if gas goes to $6.00 per gallon?

I'm not sure how much of the reaction to the '70's gas crunch could be described as a put-on (to borrow a term from those times), but as I recall it got enough of people's attention that they started buying pieces of bent metal called Vegas. It also helped get some really good lines of economy cars started, mostly introduced by such as Toyota and Honda. That whole shift to smaller, more economical vehicles didn't play out until the mid to late 80's, I don't think, with the advent of the SUV. In recent years one just didn't feel safe in a high-mileage economy car, not with all those gigantic destructo-vehicles looming all around you. I sure hope those days are behind us, at least for another extended product cycle.

Those giant destructo vehicles aren't as tough as you think. sure they may survive minor impacts better, but I've seen a 98 Nissan altima cream a 99 mercury mountaineer in a head on collision at about 40 mph. The guy in the altima had a bruised knee and some airbag burns on his hand the guy in the mountaineer had broken bones. Both vehicles were about equally smashed, but one was obviously a lot gentler on the passenger in an accident. Oh and they were both wearing seat belts. Now cross paths with an f450, Dump truck, Trash truck, cement truck, or tractor trailer you can kiss your ass goodbye, but that's basically true for any other vehicle that's produced that's smaller than they are. they have a LOT more mass and are built to be much more rigid; because of the nature of the tasks that they are built to perform.

Okay, maybe a bad example, but you get the idea.

That well illustrates what happens when even a large commuter type vehicle meets it's end against the bumper of a commercial sized vehicle. Although i forgot to include school bus in my list of commercial vehicle's that will eat you for lunch if you get in an accident with them.

Exxon/Mobil rake in 124,000,000 a day in profit. They can address the "EV threat" in two ways. First, they could go to every company that makes a 40+ MPG vehicle and simply pay them off. Second, lower oil production.

With all the new EV's on the market the demand for oil will be dropping. An example is the recent announcment from OPEC (last week) stating that demand had dropped 2%. OPEC answered by cutting production to match the lower demand. Today's business news reports that although the USA saw a modest drop in the price of oil last month, it is again on the rise.

It's as simple as this. Just as the government says it can no way afford a 2,000,000,000 tax cut for middle class. When they spend 2,000,000,000 each few weeks to fight a war.

I like the Volt in both styles. My wife and family lean toward the production style.

Big Oil is scared? Of what? A car that will be too expensive for most people to buy and which won't be on the market until 2011, in a piddly 10K volume? And might ramp to 60K/year over the next few years?

Big Oil takes comfort - and cash - from the large numbers of people that were willing to buy giant SUVs and trucks that they didn't need and shell out ridiculous sums of money for them and pay double what they had to at the gas pump.

Until gas prices went to $4/gallon this year, there were no lines for the Prius. It's close to price-competitive with any mid-size car on the market, has mid-size room inside and is actually pretty nice but people would rather buy a regular Camry, Accord, Altima or Malibu than buy a Prius and save half their monthly fuel bill.

Big Oil's best friend is the American consumer. Big Oil isn't worried about anything. If when the Prius had hit the market, people had refused to buy anything else, knowing they could get double the fuel mileage of a regular mid-size car with the same comfort, THEN Big Oil would be worried.

Until gas prices went to $4/gallon this year, there were no lines for the Prius.

As long as I've known Prius has had a line. A few years when we wanted to buy a car - we had to forego prius because of the waiting period.

And the physical personification of their fear is the Volt.

Volt is a storm in a teacup - as for as Big Oil is concerned. They know we aren't getting weaned off of oil within next two decades.

And we all know Execs (and wall street) cares only about a couple of quarters.

If I was an oil exec with long term in mind I'd put a lot of money into all the battery manufacturers and alternate energy companies - so that the compaies could ease into post oil economy and continue to make money.

What they are really worried about is
- conservatives will start finding out global warming is not a liberal hoax
- they have to start paying taxes

Before rushing to create a new federal tax, lawmakers should ask two questions:

(1) Do oil companies currently pay too little in taxes compared to profits?
(2) What was the effect of the last windfall profits tax enacted in 1980?

The answer to the first question is that over the past 25 years, oil companies directly paid or remitted more than $2.2 trillion in taxes, after adjusting for inflation, to federal and state governments—including excise taxes, royalty payments and state and federal corporate income taxes. That amounts to more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Energy.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/1168.html

Before rushing to create a new federal tax, lawmakers should ask two questions:

(1) Do oil companies currently pay too little in taxes compared to profits?
(2) What was the effect of the last windfall profits tax enacted in 1980?

The answer to the first question is that over the past 25 years, oil companies directly paid or remitted more than $2.2 trillion in taxes, after adjusting for inflation, to federal and state governments—including excise taxes, royalty payments and state and federal corporate income taxes. That amounts to more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Energy.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/1168.html

I think that's a lie, the data needs to be verified. WE, the consumers, are paying the MAJORITY of the TAX in the form of state and Federal taxes added per gallon of gasoline and BIG OIL think it is their money that they are paying to the government? Compared to what consumers pay for taxes at the pump, BIG OIL's real corporate taxes are a paltry. The BIG OIL is using our tax payments at the pump as their money that they are paying the government!

Businesses don't pay taxes - their customers do.

Businesses don't pay taxes - their customers do.

Yes, you're quite right, but some people refuse to learn.

"I think that's a lie, the data needs to be verified. WE, the consumers, are paying the MAJORITY of the TAX in the form of state and Federal taxes added per gallon of gasoline and BIG OIL think it is their money that they are paying to the government? Compared to what consumers pay for taxes at the pump, BIG OIL's real corporate taxes are a paltry. The BIG OIL is using our tax payments at the pump as their money that they are paying the government!"

Are you mad at "BIG OIL" or the government?

Businesses don't pay taxes - their customers do.
YES. Higher taxes are always a good way to stabilize higher prices.

http://www.californiagasprices.com/tax_info.aspx

In Kali, we pay the most, about $0.64/gallon for gasoline and more for diesel. A good chunk of that is reserved by law for roadway construction, but the State government continuoly eyes it like a Turkey vulture viewing fresh roadkill as a source of $$ to balance the State's 15 billion dollar defecit. Pot holes rule !!!! :eek:

natarajnv, I tested a Prius this Spring, merely to see what it was like (nice!). They had a good selection on hand and offered the car at less than MSRP. Since I wasn't planning to buy a car for another year, I declined.

Are you kidding me man? Unless the Eestor device happens to not be a scam the world will be dependent on oil for a long time to come. A few electric cars and economy gasoline cars are not going to change that.

Totally disagree, but without getting into that, I'm interested in your reasoning.

The way to get to big oil is ___No Plug No sale

IMHO big oil will and can do just fine.In the the early 1970's Marthon Oil was drilling natural gas wells like crazy,and capping them all off. Now fast forward... Not a bad investment in todays market.

http://www.californiagasprices.com/tax_info.aspx

In Kali, we pay the most, about $0.64/gallon for gasoline and more for diesel. A good chunk of that is reserved by law for roadway construction, but the State government continuoly eyes it like a Turkey vulture viewing fresh roadkill as a source of $$ to balance the State's 15 billion dollar defecit. Pot holes rule !!!! :eek:

CT is right up there with Cali. Unfortunately none of the money is earmarked specifically for road repairs. Instead, all of the taxes collected in CT go into the "general fund". And no one knows where it goes! Talk about shady.