Great thread! Where to start?
The electric car - fantastic doco, and also very sad to think that this is how our business leaders think and work. But, why is it that so many of the people who are trying to develop electric cars arrive at pathetic designs? Or the performance is terrible? However, there is one exception, the Tesla Roadster (http://www.teslamotors.com), but it costs US$100,000. The company is hoping to start at the high end of the market and as they make the money back, reinvest in more affordable everyday cars. Full credit though for building a desirable car with great performance. If this doesn't get people excited by electric, then we're all doomed!
As to the costs of electric scooters, I think people really aren't doing their math very well! Yes, it is a bigger initial outlay, but you're not just saving on at the petrol station. Add in oil changes, filters, spark plugs, plus any number of other parts that make up a petrol engine and can go wrong at any time and $15,000 starts to look like a good price. Now add to that some economic theory. This only looks at the monetary cost to your wallet, but many economists have argued that the true cost of any product should include its Social Cost - this thinking is the basis of carbon charging and trading schemes around the world. If I ride the Vectrix for 200km every week, then it produces about 30 tons of CO2 from the electricity I have used. If I ride a 125cc scooter (remember the Vectrix is rated as an equivalent to a 250cc, but we'll give the petrol scooter a fighting chance), then I'll use about 70 tons of CO2. For argument's sake, let's say we had a truly environmentally friendly government who decided to charge people $1 per ton of CO2 so that people paid the true full cost of any product, then you would be paying an extra $40 per week to ride the scooter. Unfortunately, a carbon tax won't be implemented by governments soon, but maybe we should think about everything we buy in these terms to understand the true cost of our purchasing decisions. Now think about the true cost of buying that cheap Chinese scooter!
Let me tell you about Chinese production methods with reference to what has happened in an industry that many of my friends work in. I live in Taichung in Taiwan, which is the center of the high end bicycle industry for the world and this is no exageration as every well known company - Cannondale, Giant, Specialised, Truvativ, SRAM to name a few - all have their production based here. They are based here because originally the methods of production were loosely monitored and the processes and pollution created especially in the production of frames (coatings and paints) went unchecked. As Taiwan started to tighten the restrictions (they still have a long way to go), the costs started to become more prohibitive, and thus production has moved to China where they don't have to pay these social costs. I'm sure the same is true for the scooter industry, which is why a Taiwanese scooter will cost you more than a Chinese one.
To end I would just like to add that the whole issue is down to us as individuals, and we can not rely on governments to sort this out. We need to create the change as consumers with our purchasing decisions. Buy locally produced food and goods, and if you think they are more expensive, then add in the social cost to your calculations, to get a true picture.
No one ever said on their deathbed that they wished they'd spent more time at the office.
Riding a Kymco Apex 150cc