How will "alternative fuel vehicles" affect the American economy?

Question

GABY, you are correct that some poeple don't care about fuel economy. I sellfor a Ford Lincoln-Mercury dealership. We are in a rural area with a lot of farm land (peanuts, cotton, pecans, corn, are some of the bigger crops), so we sell a lot of big vehicles that are actually used for work. We do sell a lot of big vehicles for persoanl use, too, though. Some people are downgrading to get better fuel economy, but just as many want to either keep the same fuel economy or do not care about fuel economy.

I eventually want a larger vehicle (2nd child is on the way), but for the time being,. my 4 cylinder regular cab Ranger and my wife's Ford Focus work just fine. I am 6'3" and I can drive either one of our vehicles, so I don't buy the excuse of "I'm big, so I need a big vehicle" that I hear on a regular basis.

I am personally in favor of vehicles with more fuel economy, or an alternative source (like compressed air). I would persoanlly like to see this is a car at least midesize

Answer 1

I don't think they will have a huge affect on the number of jobs.  They will be shifted to other industries though which will require different skills/training.  We live in a huge country with large spread out cities.  There will always be a need for personal transportation.

Really the only thing that will change is the type of cars we use.  At some point oil will become more expensive and drive us to other fuels.  Right now gas is still cheap enough that its not worth it to create a hydrogen fueling network, more extensive ethanol networks, electrical networks setup for cars.  It is shifting to something and only time will tell what that may be.

Answer 2

Anything new that appeals to the public is always a good thing for our economy not to mention the billions and billions of dollars we will save from the oil nations . That can all be spent on us . Not sure what it would do to there economy probably cripple it . Maybe we can buy some sand from greedy oil producers . You know just to help them out.

Answer 3

I feel that poeple will continue sufforing this "hosing" for many years to come. At least until our dependancy on foriegn oil is ended. Remember the electric car that was recalled? Trust me when I say that those who control the oil have many plans to slow down or stop all-to-gether any plan to do so. For the past several years the news-papers have stated record profits for oil companies. That was when gas was a buck fifty-a buck fifty-five! Now gas is at three! I don't know about everyonme else but I predict major problems on the horizon for all of us. We are going to have to pump for oil in places like Alaska if we don't want to starve. If we can stop producing cars that use so much gas it will be a good start. A new mandate that car companies will have to produce cars that get higher mileage just makes me angrier because we should have done that allready!!!! This is a war...

Answer 4

Flex fuel cars would help the economy greatly. They are not more expensive and can burn gasoline or alternative fuel. If all gasoline cars on the road were flex fuel, that would encourage more alternative fuel stations to spring up. Any diesel car can burn either petroleum based diesel OR bio diesel, so we should make all gasoline cars able to burn ethanol or methanol as an OPTION, especially since it is little or no cost. The Chevy Impala has a zero cost flex fuel option for example:

LZE  3.5L V6 SFI Flex Fuel Engine; $0

See the source (it may take a minute or more to load).

Any reduction of our dependence on oil, and especially imported oil, will help.

Answer 5

I think the most important thing for a car salesman is which company you work for. The country will all ways need cars, so someone has to build them. The manufacturer that produces the cars that give the public what they need and want will do well. As fuel gets more expensive and Global warming is more understood, people will be clamoring for cars that are the most cost-effective. They will because the cost of operating is high, but also because there will be huge pollution taxes on large gas hogs.

We had cars in the 80's that got over 50 MPG (VW Rabbit and Honda CRX?). With today's more efficient engines we should be able to have small diesel or gas cars that are inexpensive and get 60-70MPG. This is much better than hybrids or Hydrogen or many other options. Why not small diesels that get 70MPG and can burn Bio diesel. That technology is here now. Up to now people just do not want them. They like their big super safe gas hogs.

Later they will love the little ones. The car manufacturer that does the best in this market will do well. The Gas Hog producers will suffer.

Answer 6

It wouldn't seem to affect the economy much because it will still take a lot of people to build alternative fuel vehicles.  How many people do you suppose will be involved in research and development, then manufacturing of the Chevy Volt?  Also, the internal combustion engine is not going away in our lifetimes - there will just be more choices.