How will "alternative fuel vehicles" affect the American economy?
The American economy is very dependent on the automobile indutry. We usie vehicles for transportaion of both people and cargo, for recreation (racing, "road trips", country drives, etc.), as well as for many specialized applications, like ambulances and other emergency vehicles.
With glass, rubber, metal, paint, textiles, fuels, and many other materials needed to make a modern car, I have heard some eatimate that as many as 27,000 people are needed to make one car (with jobs ranging from tapping rubber trees and mining ore to final assembly of the vehicle).
Partially due to enironmental concern and partially due to governemnt mandates, the auto industry is slowly moving toward "alternative fuel vehicles". These include gas/electric hybrids, "flex fuel" vehciles that can run on ethanol, electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and one company will soon sell (in France) a small vehicle that is powered by compressed air.
What do you think will be the effects of this move
toward "alternative fuel vehicles"? Will this affect our economy in a positive manner (or negative or neutral)? Will the effects be long-term or only shoirt-term?
As a car salesman, I am curios as to where you stand.
How will these vehicles affect our economy?
As most answers will be largely based on opinion and/or news articles (since most of us, myself included, don’t have advanced degrees in economics), Best Answer will be awarded to the answer I find most convincing and most believable.
Also, please excuse any typos.
GABY, you are correct that some poeple don’t care about fuel economy. I sellfor a Ford Lincoln-Mercury dealership. We are in a rural area with a lot of farm land (peanuts, cotton, pecans, corn, are some of the bigger crops), so we sell a lot of big vehicles that are actually used for work. We do sell a lot of big vehicles for persoanl use, too, though. Some people are downgrading to get better fuel economy, but just as many want to either keep the same fuel economy or do not care about fuel economy.
I eventually want a larger vehicle (2nd child is on the way), but for the time being,. my 4 cylinder regular cab Ranger and my wife’s Ford Focus work just fine. I am 6’3" and I can drive either one of our vehicles, so I don’t buy the excuse of "I’m big, so I need a big vehicle" that I hear on a regular basis.
I am personally in favor of vehicles with more fuel economy, or an alternative source (like compressed air). I would persoanlly like to see this is a car at least midesize
(such as Ford Fusion), as well as in a truck large enough to fit myself, my wife, and both kids. (Ranger doesn’t do this)
Best alternative fuel source?
Since gasoline prices are going to crush the American economy, what would the best alternative fuel source? Hydrogen’s pretty cheap, you’d just get like 5 miles to the gallon. Ethanol would be a NO. That’d just lead to massive corn famines and government regulation on how much gas we could use (or else), which would be communism. Nuclear power would be very effective, but there’s always evil people who would harvest the materials for bombs. I heard fuel cells were very efficient and effective. What’s your opinion?
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