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Automotive News & Views Are gas prices fueling your pain? 
10042 messages, Last post on Jul 12, 2008 at 3:07 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Our policies which try and cater to everyone from oil company executives to environmentalists and up benefiting no one, and now were all paying the price. Weve spent decades giving billions of dollars to in government subsides with incentives for the wrong things, weve mandated that huge areas of farmland stay open for conservation and were using grains that could feed tens of millions of people to make a crappy biofuel that you cant even buy anywhere. Where did i read this?
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Apr 28, 2008 1:37 pm) Its no wonder people are losing their jobs and the industry is in the dirt right now. How is anyone going to sustain a living when they are losing money everyday?
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Replying to: lemko (Apr 28, 2008 12:17 pm) Now there we don't know that guys physical condition, he may not be able to make that walk or it may be very difficult for him (her?) to do so. People do have physical conditions that limit how far the can walk. |
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this weekend, and I will tell you something, those truckers have SLOWED DOWN. The speed limit for trucks is 55, and there were many doing exactly that. Clearly they are in fuel conservation mode. I just paid $3.95/gallon for regular. 
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Replying to: gagrice (Apr 28, 2008 11:14 am) And where do you think those trackers placed their money just before they made that prediction? |
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Replying to: lmpracetech (Apr 28, 2008 1:48 pm) The math for the 2-Modes is easy to do since GM already gave us the variables. For the Toyota's it's just as easy to do the math when you look at the big picture. For example what is a Prius? It's a 1.5L ICE 5 door hatch with some geegaws..... and a battery pack, wiring, two motors, inverter, converter, and a simplified transmission. Are there any other vehicles like it to compare it with? Yep the Matrix is also a 5 door hatch but with a 1.8L engine and a traditional transmission. A non-hybrid Prius ( if such a thing existed ) would be a Matrix in a different shape selling for about $20,000 +/-. How much did the Prius cost to develop? Pick a number.... $1 Billion? $2 Billion? $4 Billion? $4 Billion ???????? that's a lot of money. Here's the comparison. GM in it's announcement said that the total R&D cost for the 2-Modes was $1 Billion...and they split that with Daimler and BMW. As of the end of 2006 Toyta had announced that it had sold 1 million hybrids ( that figure is probably closer to 1.4 million by now ). IF..... Toyota's hybrid development cost was $3 Billion or 3 times as much as GM, Daimler and BMW spent then when divided over 1 million units the cost per vehicle was $3000. But when 1 million vehicles was reached that initial cost was fully recouped. Well that makes sense because in May of 2007 Toyota reduced the price of the top trim Prius' by $2000 and kept the discount in place til the present. Why? Because the VOLUME necessary to amortize the initial expense was reached. Volume, volume, volume. So at what volume does GM have to be in order to reach its full amortization point. Well if the initial press realease is to be believed and the cost of R&D was $1 Billion split three ways, then assuming GM took the lead and also took most of the most cost then it's share would be say $500 Million. Divide $500,000,000 / 150,000 units and the cost per vehicle becomes...$3333. At 200,000 units the cost per vehicle drops to $2500 per unit. At 200,001 units the cost is $0. Fully recouped. All it takes is volume.
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Replying to: euphonium (Apr 27, 2008 6:25 pm) True the U.S. has moved beyond the old industry type metal pollution, or at least we have laws that try to limit discharges and emissions. But, the U.S. just moved on to the next phase: Nanoparticles http://ec.europa.eu/health/opinions2/en/nanotechnologies/l-2/6-health-effects-na- noparticles.htm Genetically modified (GM) foods http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food Invasive species http://invasivespecies.blogspot.com/ Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams http://toxics.usgs.gov/pubs/FS-027-02/ It was also interesting to see the piece at ENN regarding the introduction of the Tata Nano. http://www.enn.com/business/article/29401 When gas hits $4 a gallon I'll be buying a Nano - Nano as Robin Williams would say. |
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Replying to: hondamatic1 (Apr 28, 2008 1:43 pm) I hope someone has heard that and remembers. I believe it was in the 20 acre range. That's a lot of corn not available for food or a lot of land not growning wheat or beans...
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what i will do when gas gets to $4 a gal. i'll just think how bad its gotten for everyone else, since the rest of the world is already paying like $5 a gal. then i'll think how selfish we have become. and i'll probably look for ways around it, that will be eco friendly, cause if they are eco friendly, they will be profitable, and renewable.
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Apr 28, 2008 4:04 pm)
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