July 13, 2007

Rob Lowe, The New Hybrid Expert

The house is discussing plug-in Hybrid vehicles in Congress and who do they invite?
Auto Manufacturers would be the obvious choice, since they would be inventing, designing and building them.

But that isn't who Congress invited, Congress brought in an "expert" on plug-in technology.

The hearing also will include the mayor of Austin, Texas, and actor Rob Lowe, who supports hybrids.

So Congress just proved that they value Hollywoods opinion on critical matters more than they value the people who it effects the most, the Auto Manufacturers.

Oh, I know your saying maybe your just looking at it from a bias point of view.

"Innovations such as the plug-in hybrid should not have been sitting on the shelf for so long," said Markey. "After all, this isn't rocket science; it is auto mechanics."

Yep, Inventing and designing new, breakthrough technology is nothing more than auto mechanics.

But you know, none of this push for higher fuel economy or plug-in hybrids is actually for the better of the country. It's Congresses way of finally being able to punish the automotive manufacturers for having good wages, benefits and stable job security (well until recently). The Automotive Manufacturers have been held up as the job to have and many people resent those that have those jobs or even the states that have automotive manufacturers in them.

The hearing was a mix of sympathy, castigation and bluster that has become typical of any debate about the auto industry on Capitol Hill. While General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler are building prototype plug-in hybrid vehicles, none was invited to the hearing of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Yep, nice to not invite the industry that will be majorly impacted by any decisions you make.

Not to mention that plug-in Hybrids are no better than regular non-hybrid vehicles and from what the automotive manufacturers are saying less safe.

Automakers have been critical of the effort. Converting a vehicle not only invalidates the manufacturer's warranty, but also requires the installation of several hundred pounds of batteries and often forces the removal of the spare tire.

Toyota, which has sold 1 million hybrids worldwide, including 750,000 in the United States, over the last decade, said converting a hybrid risks vehicle fires, and actually increases greenhouse gas emissions.

Charles Ing, Toyota's director of governmental affairs, told the Senate that tests of two converted plug-in Toyota Prius vehicles show they had significantly higher emissions of nitrogen oxide.

"This raises the question of whether the government should be paying people to make their cars dirtier," Ing wrote.

So this isn't about what is good for the economy or the environment, it's what is bad for the automotive industry.


Posted by Quality Weenie at July 13, 2007 11:59 AM | TrackBack
Comments

They didn't invite the auto makers for two reasons:

1. They didn't want to hear facts. They honestly do not want to know reality, they want to dictate their rules and have the peons follow those rules, no matter what.

2. It's time for a shakedown. Apparently the auto industry hasn't been paying enough in protection fees (campaign donations) to various mob members (politicians). Once the "donations" increase, the hearings will stop.

Posted by: Ogre at July 16, 2007 10:40 AM