The green world is fraught with irony - not the least of which is the relationship between plant growth and CO2 levels. Lets not go there. Please.
The unintended consequences problem with the new Volt, being rushed into production, or any electric vehicle is this: will it be used by the purchaser as an additional vehicle instead of a full replacement, and what happens to the gas guzzler that she trades-in for the PHEV? . [hint: "not my problem" is NOT the correct answer] If it is not a full replacement, then this is not something positive for the environment, regardless of "efficiency". One vehicle is always better then two, ecologically, and a 'sunk cost' in an SUV is better than a new Prius if the SUV gets used more often by its new owner than you were using it. Even when the present vehicle is an older model guzzler, there are secondary implications to consider - without a national effort to remove gas guzzlers forever, even newer SUVs. How? The ideal situation would be a series of sponsored 'chop shops' so to speak - to remove the big engine and replace it with an after-market electric power train and batteries, if, that is: these were made to be cost competitive (they are not even close now). Why not keep two tons of steel on the road for as long as possible, since it took ten tons of coal, initially - to bring that baby from mine to mine. One accurate comment that is worth cogitating on is this one, paraphrased from one of the blogs: Shocking to some that the best green vehicle "to buy" is often "not to buy" - but to keep an old large vehicle and drive it sparingly by "using your head," consolidating trips, and car pooling. IOW, It's not just about miles per gallon but about net CO2 per vehicle over its lifetime, and mostly about the massive carbon "footprint" left by the automobile manufacturing process itself. Needless to say, Detroit does not want to hear this. ANY new vehicle is an unneeded burden on the environment, however powered, because of the large CO2 burden needed to make the steel, plastics and other parts - which burden is not returned in a PHEV for many years - maybe never. A two ton vehicle, if one traced the emissions back to the iron ore mine, is probably equivalent to a quarter million road miles, and those are coal emissions - the worst kind. I would like to know what this figure really is but I doubt that Detroit wants us to know. Somebody else's problem. Plus look at the further unintended consequences: When a person buys a brand new electric car and sells the late model hummer, they conveniently overlook the fact that the SUV gets bought by someone that really wants that kind of package at a discount, and will probably drive it more frequently, in the worst circumstances stop-and-go, to haul the kids around to soccer practice or even to pick up a slurpee from the 7/11. If you think about it, this is the worst possible scenario - and the conservationist would be better off not buying the PHEV at all. A better scenario would be to add some spin, so to speak - to get out the correct info, and to make it "hip" to keep an old car as long as possible, tune it up, and drive it smartly and less often - or do the aftermarket electric conversion thing when that is available reasonably. It's the both older big displacement used cars from thirty years ago, combined with the energy needs of BUILDING efficient new cars thats killing us - in equal measure. The difference between the 28 mpg new gas car and the 40 mpg new hybrid is almost meaningless in the big picture. Downsizing the new car market permanently in not a bad idea, except politically. "Unintended consequences" . there is self-fulfilling law in there somewhere, and the 'echo' of it all becomes mind-numbing, after a while. Jones . to wit: "Unintended Consequences" the novel, was Tim McVeigh's favorite read, while awaiting trial for the Ok City bombing. . loved it . and noted that "if it had come out a few years earlier, I would have given serious consideration to using sniper attacks in a war of attrition against the government instead of bombing a federal building" thus sayeth TV and furthermore, "If people say 'The Turner Diaries' was my Bible, 'Unintended Consequences' would be my New Testament... It might have changed my whole plan of operation if I'd read that one first.." I am speechless to respond. Maybe that is a good thing.
