Obama, the Economy and the Age of Electric Cars

March 26, 2009 – Vol.14 No.1

OBAMA, THE ECONOMY AND THE AGE OF ELECTRIC CARS.
by Bruce Mulliken, Green Energy News

President Obama has inherited a mess: a mess with roots in a deregulatory fervor that began decades ago. Both major American political parties are to be blamed; this is why there will be no blame game in Washington.

People, too, share blame in the economic malaise. They failed to educate themselves on the workings of their own economy. They blindly trusted the words of others because they heard only what they wanted to hear: All will be fine, not to worry, we’re geniuses, trust us, the self-described experts said. Americans spent too much time being concerned with “American Idol” when they should have concerned themselves with America itself.

True, as Obama has said, the first signs of economic recovery are showing. But then, it is Spring after all. The days are getting longer. In some places flowers are blooming and grass has its first hint of green. As the warm spring sunlight brings life back, the economy will perk up a bit too.

But even if the economy shows real signs of growth by year’s end, it won’t bounce back to full strength for many months. More than 5.5 million jobs have been lost and more will continue to be lost throughout the year. Employers are always hesitant to hire anew until it’s absolutely necessary. Employment is always a lagging indicator in recovery from a recession.

Obama will spend much of the next few years struggling with job creation. He’ll be fighting budget battles with Congress. He’ll face anger on Main Street if the job situation doesn’t improve dramatically – soon. He’ll have difficulty getting his agenda on health care and education through.

However, it appears he will have success on his energy and global warming agenda.

Whether he gets cap and trade legislation is questionable, but what is certain is that green energies will continue to flourish, particularly in one area: electrically driven vehicles.

There’s no stopping renewables now. Wind, solar and other renewables will be helped along by the momentum building of the last decade. The stimulus package and a generally improving economy will foster more renewables too. But zero-emission, highly-energy-efficient, electrically-driven vehicles will be the sea change of the Obama years.

Electric drive will get help from all directions. Like renewables, there’s a momentum in the marketplace that began with hybrids more than a decade ago. Battery technology has been steadily improving. Tax incentives will cut the vehicle’s cost. Federal loans from late in the Bush Administration will help get more of these advanced vehicles into production. More federal help from Obama is on the way. The major US car companies (should they survive)want to push ahead with electric drive . Brands around the world are preparing all electric vehicles – Subaru, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Mini, China’s BYD to name a few. And there are the startups and small companies: Tesla and Fisker with their sporting cars, Smith Electric with its trucks, Think with its city car, Aptera with its three-wheeled car.

And there are more entrants in the electric vehicle fleet. Electric Vehicles International (EVI) has its road ready electric trucks available now for sale and Tesla has taken the cover off its gorgeous Model S. The S will go into production if Washington lends it the money to do so.

While Obama won’t be able to take credit for the shift in the technological and marketplace streams that began flowing over a decade ago, he is the one living in the White House as those streams converge.

Shifting to electric drive won’t fix global warming, but every increment of emissions reductions helps. Electric drive will help the economy, too. Every penny spent on kilowatts is money that’s spent at home. The more money that stays here helps the economy recover, and that is the key concern right now.

Links:

Electric Vehicles International (EVI)
http://www.evi-usa.com

Tesla Motors
http://www.teslamotors.com

Tesla Model S
http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php