What was the impact of the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program?
The Cash for Clunkers program brought in a great many people who don’t normally buy a new car or only buy a new car every 10 years or so. These buyers only came in because of this incredible deal the government offered. They’re not likely to come back, and they’re the kind of people who can’t afford to buy an expensive car. They had to go with the cheapest car available, and those are compact cars. I think even though we saw a big spike in compact cars in the July-August timeframe, I don’t see compact car sales being that strong, unless or until gas prices start to go up again.
What developments would promote a wider acceptance and implementation of electric vehicles and plug-ins?
The only thing that I can see will help speed this along is a big increase in the price of oil. Then everybody hits the panic button and wants to see action immediately and decisions get made. But the problem right now is in this country, we still haven’t committed to any one kind of alternative. Should it be electricity? Biofuel? CNG? Hydrogen? Until we decide where we’re going, we’re going to have to put in four or five different infrastructures at a time when every municipality and government is broke. And I just think it’s going to be enormously difficult to move forward on this issue, again, until the price of oil skyrockets, and we all hit the panic button again.
Will use of diesel fuel become as widespread as it is in Europe?
Diesel will not catch on big in the U.S. as it has in Europe because environmentalists in this country don’t like diesel. They’re into electric. The one scenario that might change this situation is research now underway to use algae to produce fuel, research that offers a bit of potential in the alt-fuel area. Ten percent of the land mass in the state of Michigan can grow enough algae to supply fuel for the entire U.S. Researchers are looking into using algae to produce biodiesel.
