I had a thought the other day that was good enough, I think, to share with everyone. First question, what was one of the biggest groups of organizations that were benefiting from the low gas prices. Simple answer, the automobile manufacturers. And I believe that they were in collusion with the Oil and Gas companies to keep from producing extremely fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles. With so many people buying gasoline cars, why would these companies invest in alternative fuel vehicles. Toyota did, somewhat, with their hybrid models. Honda has done so a tiny bit with their hybrid and hydrogen fueled vehicles, but what about Ford, Chevy, GM, Chrysler, and the other companies. They have produced some hybrid technology, but nothing that was worth the extra money. The Chevrolet Tahoe 2-Mode Hybrid is a perfect example. This hybrid gets a whopping 20-21 miles per gallon. A Hyundai Veracruz with a v-6 gasoline only engine gets better mileage than that and it's not a hybrid. The Lexus GS 450h (a hybrid compact) gets a combined 26 miles to the gallon, with a 28 mpg on the highway. Lexus is owned by Toyota, the makers of one of the most fuel efficient vehicles available (The Prius). Now, take into account that there are several models of electric cars that are now becoming available. Take this article for example:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/02/07/the-top-ten-electric-vehicles-you-can-buy-today-for-the-most-pa/
Not a single one of these vehicles is designed by one of the big car manufacturers. They are built by little up and coming companies. These companies have had to go through the time consuming process of trying to get money so that they can't produce these cars in force. What have the big automakers done with all of their record profits on the gasoline cars. Well if you look at the big picture, nothing really. They have spent the money on who knows what, but definitely not R&D on alternative fuel vehicles. They came up with the Flex-fuel vehicles, cars and trucks that can run on either gasoline or ethanol. But in terms of producing anything marketable, nothing has really be done.
One of the most promising vehicles coming out is by a company called Phoenix Motorcars. They are making an SUT (Sport Utility Truck) and SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) that are completely electric and will run about 140 (Roughly) miles on a single charge, with the ability to recharge to 95% of full capacity in 10 minutes. Read through some of the specs. So my question is, why have the big vehicle manufacturers, that have tons of money for R&D, not produced a vehicle that can match the specs of the Phoenix Motorcars vehicles. Very simply, kickbacks from the Oil and Gas companies. However, now the oil and gas companies have gotten more greedy than in the past and are trying to get as much money as they can before their cash cow runs out. The kickbacks that the vehicle manufacturers are getting are probably not enough now to offset the losses that they have in vehicle sales. Companies like Hummer (owned by GM) have had sales drop as much as 26% on some models. Talk about a huge loss in profits. GM is currently shutting down 4 plants across the US and is currently looking to dump the Hummer brand. And yet there is a guy in Kansas that has a Hummer that can get almost a whopping 100mpg with double the horsepower. Read the Article. Think people would by it?
Now that I have set the backdrop of my thoughts, here is what I would like to share. While our government can't really regulate the price of gas, why wouldn't the auto manufacturers step up and say to the oil and gas companies, "Enough is enough. Your high prices are affecting our profits. If you want to play that game, we'll have all of our new vehicles off of gas in 2 years, and you wont get anymore $$$'s from our consumers." And from companies building millions of vehicles per year, that would have a HUGE effect on the Oil and Gas company profits. Could the auto companies pull it off. Collectively, yes. Individually, no. These high gas prices are driving consumers to look at alternatives. Motorcycle sales are in an increase. Consumers don't want to spend so much at the pump and are willing to pay the price to not do so. And in an effort to retain profits, the car companies will save themselves in whatever fashion they can. Now that the Oil and Gas companies have broken their end of the deal, I would say that all bets are off.
The auto manufacturers have the money and the ability to change the way our world gets around. The alternative resources are out there waiting to be tapped. The question is, will they do it. I know it takes a longer time for a bigger ship to get turned around, but money is the key. They have it available. Now use it for something useful.
Update: One day after writing the above, I stand partially corrected. Honda just released this press release. Looks like they are taking more steps to produce alternative fuel vehicles.