Remember Ian Wright? Right, he’s the inventor and producer of Wrightspeed X1, the first most famous electric sportscar. This summer his car was on top of all the newspapers, environmental and auto blogs. Now, the same famous sportscar with plans to be commercialized and developed in the coming years, is being retired and put on the shelf. Instead, he refocuses his business to provide essential parts for electric car makers.
Why is that happening? The answer may surprise you, but Wrightspeed X1 is being retired because the gas prices have fallen again. I wonder what will happen next with Priuses, if the world will have any interest in Volt, Aptera, or any other electric or hybrid car, once everything’s back to normal again and the ordinary Joe doesn’t have to concern anymore for his pocket, for saving the environment, and for choosing the best electric car. Not to mention he doesn’t have to wait any longer for batteries to be developed and doesn’t risk anything by installing a hydrogen system on his car.
Is humanity driven only by primary instincts? Are money the only punishment visible enough for us to get real and prepare for a change? The problems are only put away this time, they are not, by far, solved. I heard on the news today that Toyota is having difficulties along with Ford, GM and others. I’m confused: should we all buy Hummers and gas-guzzling sportscars, or make time to cultivate ourselves with a little about this polluted atmosphere we live in?
Producing AlGAE DIESEL doesn’t address the problem of pollution, only the problem of supply. Batteries have a very slow development curve compared to other technologies that make them currently unsuitable for most EV applications. However, given time, research and money, batteries can certainly become competitive.
As the article points out, Americans, at least, are really only concerned with their pocketbooks at this point in time and will need some other motivation to drive the market to producing EV or EV batteries that are competitive with polluting technologies.
There are no batteries in the world today that come close to the power density of liquid fuels. We will be better served if we start producing ALGAE DIESEL as fast as we can get some new farmers to replace the retiring farmers today.