Autoblog

Then, with their Death Star complete, Big Oil will hold the world ransom for all its precious resources! Next stop Dagobah!

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Mccain will say anything to win the election. Then we'll be at war with Iran for the next 8 years and gas will be so expensive, no one will even be thinking about electric batteries. The oil companies will be f*ckin us all so I hope everyone has their K*Y jelly ready.

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Do you honestly think they will use KY or any lube win they F^*k us!!!!!

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@ vetmstr

Yes they will. It's a petroleum by-product. We pay and pay for them to screw us. It's a win-win for them.

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Those who control the oil will become those who control the electricity. We might enjoy a small period where running your electric car will be cheaper than gas was but it won't last once enough people are driving them that the nation can be held over a barrel by a select few once again.

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@tankd0g
We can make our own generators (wind, solar) while we can't liquify old plants to make oil. That's a big difference.

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First you produce failing public school systems.

Then they produce failing students.

Those failing students have children out of wedlock before they are even 18 and vreate a future of dumb assed Americans.

Then and only then do you have a population dumb enough to allow oil men to run their country...wage wars to control oil countries and then actually pay $4.50 a gallon of gas while the oil executives running the country use their tax dollars to ride around in bulletproof GAS GUZZLING SUVS.


Then you get a guy like Kucinich who tries to impeach the executives and no one even cares.


3 people you should listen too...

Ron Paul
Kucinich
Jeremiah Wright.


These guys actually know what's wrong with America.

F*** john mcinsane.

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'First you produce failing public school systems.

Then they produce failing students.

Those failing students have children out of wedlock before they are even 18 and vreate a future of dumb assed Americans.

Then and only then do you have a population dumb enough to allow oil men to run their country...wage wars to control oil countries and then actually pay $4.50 a gallon of gas while the oil executives running the country use their tax dollars to ride around in bulletproof GAS GUZZLING SUVS.
'

And then blog commenters paraphrase every movie George C Romero ever made. :)

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I think more like 2 years. Mercedes Benz electric car is coming in 2010

http://benzinsider.com/2008/06/dieter-zetsche-confirms-electric-mercedes-in-2010-we-were-right/

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Uh....not exactly.

I'm in the car business and I can tell you this is bullsh*t. $300 million is barely enough to cover start-up costs for R&D on a project of this magnitude. Even if it somehow were magically enough, how much do the cars you're going to put these in have to cost to re-coup what you spent, how many cars do you have to sell at said price and how long are you going to have to sell them? Have you added in labor and other associated costs as well? It's not a hand-out. It's an "if-then" situation. So you're going into debt without the guarantee that McCain'll bail you out on the other end and if you aren't the person who gets the $300 mil, you're screwed. On the flipside, let's say you do happen to be THAT person who comes up with this technology. Your tech is going to have a FAR higher market value than $300mil. Last I checked, $300 mil is still less than the potential billions you could reap by patenting the tech and letting others use it for a nominal fee (way less you're talking about the current US dollar *roll eyes*). Don't forget, this isn't just cars. This is a battery technology that could revolutionize everything from pace makers to vibrators. Everybody's going to want it eventually. Aside from the obvious monopoly and the potential to pay off the US' entire debt (okay, now I'm rambling, lol) what's in it for the rest of the poor schmucks who didn't get this supposed $300 mil? McCain obviously doesn't have it. Where's he going to get it from? Like I said, unless you're actually the person who comes up with the technology (more than likely you'll be an employee of one of the asian firms already dilligently working on this because you'll have a head-start on everybody and most of the R&D funded by your bosses' bosses' bosses' bosses' investors), the rest of us are hypothetically out of the loop in this one.

Of course, this is just one theory. I'm sure somebody else has a different, more positive idea. lol Either way, it's just another ploy by a candidate willing to do and saying anything to get your vote.

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You think it is BS that $300 million is a larger incentive than $10 and $50 million? Ok, to each their own...

If you re-read my comment, nowhere does it say $300mil will completely cover the cost of development. I am fully aware of the costs associated with the development of such a technology and knows that such a price cover a fraction of the costs.

My point was that you will get a lot more interest with a "prize" of $300 million than you would with prizes of $10 million and $50 million.

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You're in the car business? Must not be in management. Must be a lot-porter or something. Do you prep the Hyundai's for the WT customes who buy them? Must be so. $300M in R&D? Are you kidding me? $100M is the most that would be required. To you, that's like a bazillion Hyundais and Aveos and a couple of gas cards to boot.
Seriously though, this is a great idea.
And to the rest, old man, or old muslim. Take your pick. It doesn't matter in the end.

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Yeah, I gotta agree with Cary (well, except for the insults). 300 mil is a lot for R&D. Now, if you're talking tooling and production, its a different story. Remember, we're just talking about developing a single system here. Even if you want to use the billions GM has spent on their fuel cell development, you have to remember that they're looking at an entire integrated system and an infeasible one at that.

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@ Cary,

Thank you for making it blatantly obvious that I know more about the R&D and development costs and cost spreading of a technology similar to what's being discussed here than you, primarily because my company's been working on it for a little while now. You just made my day. :)

@ RG, "My point was that you will get a lot more interest with a "prize" of $300 million than you would with prizes of $10 million and $50 million."

You missread what I wrote. I said BILLIONS, not millions. And that's market value, which is a far higher incentive than $300 mil "prize money".

@nataku83,

You can't just look at it as though this is ONE product. In this particular situation, this isn't just about a car battery primarily because to re-coup the development costs and continue to make a profit, any good businessman (something Cary apparently isn't) knows you need to spread the development costs to as many of your products as possible. Our Li-On are primarily known for their use in laptops, but have gone to and will continue to be used in other products, which will continue to bring costs down. Anybody with a basic understanding of economics will tell you this. You all seem to be focused on "well, this will only be used in one product".

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Good point Milos

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