because of my career and how close we are to detroit i spent quite a bit of time at GM's tech center for training.they had a large number of the electric cars running around within the center. it's actually a large facility and the electric cars did a great job in their closed environment.
i'm all for helping mother nature but there are a huge number of issues that need to be dealt with before the electric cars could be released to the general public. the insurance companies including workers comp and the EPA were fighting about who was going to deal with the batteries. the battery weighed over 1000lbs,carried high voltage,is full of acidic/caustic chemicals and can leak in a collision. that was just for starters, the liability issues came next......it's a dark and stormy night...you come upon a bad wreck.. you see a mangled EV1 sitting in the low area beside the road in two inches of water.. the driver is still inside...not moving do you (a) run over and try to open the door to help OR (b) wait until someone comes along with a DVOM (volt meter) and checks for a short in the battery system before you touch the car??????????????
laugh if you want but this is real world! i know for a fact that the legal system had as much to do with killing the EV program as anything. the fuel cell is a better option and i think that there is less "meat" to feed the lawyers with
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because of my career and how close we are to detroit i spent quite a bit of time at GM's tech center for training.they had a large number of the electric cars running around within the center. it's actually a large facility and the electric cars did a great job in their closed environment. i'm all for helping mother nature but there are a huge number of issues that need to be dealt with before the electric cars could be released to the general public. the insurance companies including workers comp and the EPA were fighting about who was going to deal with the batteries. the battery weighed over 1000lbs,carried high voltage,is full of acidic/caustic chemicals and can leak in a collision. that was just for starters, the liability issues came next......it's a dark and stormy night...you come upon a bad wreck.. you see a mangled EV1 sitting in the low area beside the road in two inches of water.. the driver is still inside...not moving do you (a) run over and try to open the door to help OR (b) wait until someone comes along with a DVOM (volt meter) and checks for a short in the battery system before you touch the car?????????????? laugh if you want but this is real world! i know for a fact that the legal system had as much to do with killing the EV program as anything. the fuel cell is a better option and i think that there is less "meat" to feed the lawyers with