High Gas Prices – Just Part of the Agenda
Don’t look to the Whitehouse for any relief from high gas prices, it isn’t part of the agenda.
Justin Farmer from Channel 2 in Atlanta (local ABC station) interviewed your President this week. One of the questions asked was about the high gas prices. Here is Obama’s reply.
“There’s no silver bullet to bringing down gas prices. This is a huge burden on families,” Obama told Farmer.
“What we can do is make sure we’re investing in clean energy, car technology, natural gas vehicles. In order to do it, we must invest in basic research and that’s why we shouldn’t give subsidies to oil companies, which we do through the tax code right now,” the president continued.
There are several things that can be done to reduce gas prices. First, start drilling for and producing oil in the US. We have on shore and off shore reserves that could start producing oil within a few years. How long do you think it will take to develop all the “Green” technology that your President is talking about. Answer, decades.
Just developing crappy electric cars and recharging stations for them would be 10 years away. Your President thinks we can just go out and buy crappy electric cars and the problem is solved. But the technology just isn’t there.
Take the Atlanta area as an example. The average commute in Atlanta is 34.6 miles. The current technology in electric only cars is probably best represented by the Nissan Leaf. Although the advertised rage for the Leaf is 100 miles, in “real world” tests the Leaf delivers a range of 73 miles before requiring a recharge. Do the math, the “average” Atlanta commuter would have a whole 3 miles margin on the range of his Nissan Leaf. Oh, it’s summer, you want to run the air conditioner? Better stop for a recharge. Oh, it’s winter, you want to run the heater? Better stop for a recharge. Recharging an electric car isn’t like making a pit stop at the Quick Trip for 13 gallons of 89 octane and a latte. Charging times for a Nissan Leaf takes about ~30 minutes to 80% at a 480 volt quick-charge station. Starting from a depleted battery, ~7 hours at 220/240V (depending on amperage), about 20 hours at 110/120V. Oh well, your Atlanta average commute time of 39 minutes just tripled to allow for stopping to recharge your crappy electric car.
The technology just isn’t there. And I don’t think we can wait until the technology improves to shut off the gas pumps!
Didn’t I hear that he US needs JOBS? Producing gasoline from domestic sources would create jobs. We’re talking good paying jobs. And, they would be private sector jobs not Government Jobs. (the government is the only job sector that is growing these days) Not to mention, we would be spending our gasoline dollar back in to the US economy, not the Saudi economy!
Obama said he was out to fundamentally change this country. I think a lot of people may have not fully understood what he meant.
UPDATE: I just read this in Quality Magazine – Nissan Leaf Voted “World Car of the Year”
I’d go with the runner up, the BMW 5 Series!!