Guest Blogger Wayne Mackey on Electric Vehicles

Craig, I’ve been reading the chapter of you book on Electric Vehicles like the New Ford Focus Electric and the new Electric Hybrids like the Chevy Volt. I was surprised to have received a correspondence from Bob Lutz at GM back in the Spring of 2007 saying that he would do everything in his power to make it a reality in 2010. I must say, he kept his word. I went to purchase one from a dealer in Washington, D.C. in late December 2010 and ran headlong into a stone wall. Yes, I could have purchased one by now if I would have been willing to pay the additional $5,000 early delivery fee…which I wasn’t and will not. I told the dealer that when they want to sell me a vehicle in the future, they will have to meet my price, not the other way around. I even went so far as to write to Bob Lutz himself and ask him for his help to get this obstacle out of both his way, and mine. If GM is serious about getting buyers interested in their new technology then it is my estimation that they need to foster a more collaborative atmosphere between themselves and any potential new customers.

Since then, I have contacted all of the GM Dealerships in our local area and none of them is planning to charge an extra early delivery fee. They (local dealerships) are not expecting their first deliveries until late Spring at the earliest and it may not be unitl late 2011 or early 2012 before I can make my 4 year old dream a reality.

In the mean time, I am seriously considering adding additional solar panels to my existing array to off set any future increase in demand from charging the lithium battery. Before we do that, however, we are taking one further step to help lower our already lowered electric utility bills by having the area between the foundation and the outside walls of our home insulated with a spray on foam material that has the potential to reduce our overall energy use by another 20%. I have found this step by step approach to energy efficiency and gaging its performance over a few months, goes a long way in preventing overshooting our ultimate goal of achieving 100% energy independence from both our electric utility and the gas stations.

I would very much like to see both the car manufacturers and the solar panel manufacturers get togather and work out the details togather to begin to offer the general public the option of purchasing both at the same time in a “package deal” Both the car manufacturers and the solar panel manufacturers would then be able to advertise what would be essentially “the first 40 miles free” driving. I have heard the old argument for not doing it is because most people are away at work when the sun is shining so they wouldn’t benefit from such a package. However, if these panels were to become part of their home or garage’s grid conection, they would be supplying electricity to the grid during the day and would then be able to draw the power back out of the grid at night when it is cheaper to do so.

I suggested this to Bob Lutz several years ago, but so far, nothing. I even suggested to him at the time that he might want to consider adding solar pv panels to the surfaces of their cars but he replied that he didn’t think it would work. So, today we have the Toyota Prius IV and the new Nissan Leaf being equipped with solar panels. Progress is painfully slow.  My wife and I tried to get our hands on a Toyota Prius IV late last summer when we purchased our Prius 111, but were told that the Japanese were keeping them for themselves in Japan.