I look at PHEVs as more expensive. Some may say that production will lower the battery prices but the same was said of solar panels the last 20 years.

If you have to charge $30k for an Insight2+ or $35k for a Prius+ with 12 kwh of batteries, you will start to see if the market is really there or not.

I kind of think that we do not do anything unless we have to in the U.S. If gasoline goes above $5 per gallon, we may see CNG conversions, BAS retrofits and all kinds of things. But we will not see those until it hits the fan, so to speak.

If we would plan ahead and actually have a consistent policy for decades, we would reduce our oil dependence and be much better off, but nooooo... we have to wait until we are forced to do something, anything to get ourselves out of the inevitable bind that we have been facing and ignoring.

When the price of gas, stays above 5$ EVs will do much better.
Much lower battery prices is also needed.

People rarely do anything painful unless they have to.

Big vehicles are convenient, handy and still, marginally make economic sense.

That is where the Gov was supposed to step in, even if only since the 70s or at least by ~2000.

@HarveyD,

IMHO, the main reasons that Americans like larger vehicles is that gasoline is relatively cheap, the streets are wide, the house is big with a lot of space for parking, and a lot of driving is done on the highways at high speed, and a lot of time will be spent on the car to and from work so the spacious vehicle will give more comfort. Overall, Americans are bigger people than Asians and some Europeans, and would feel uncomfortable being squeezed into a sub-compact.

An European or Asian if transplanted to America will likely adopt the same habit.

I generally agree that judging by hybrid sales, phev adoption will likely be a slow progress. Of course it's hard to predict the future and if consumer tastes will change.

Of course, if gas prices get back to $4-5 then that's when you see many people in the US all of the sudden willing to look at alternatives (ie last summer with people ditching SUVs and getting smaller cars even when in reality if you do the calculations it doesn't necessarily make the most economic sense). And the wildcard with plug-ins is the new experience of plugging in and also the still inexpensive electricity. I guess we'll see how the consumers respond when the plug-ins actually come out.

I have heard people rationalize the purchase of a large vehicle because they can not carry stuff. Try getting a 4 x 8 foot sheet of plywood into an Escape, same problem. So they buy large pickups that get 14 mpg for that one day per year they need to haul a sheet of plywood, when Lowes will rent you a truck for a few hours or deliver.

I can see getting 14 mpg in an SL55 AMG Mercedes with 475 hp and hard top convertible. The car is a rolling art form that handles and accelerates like a rocket.

I will have Lowes deliver the plywood and have a service tow my boat to dry dock storage by the lake. I get no thrill from driving a pickup.

Yeah, but only the peasants drive farm machinery :) The rest of the world must think we are nuts driving 3/4 ton pickup trucks everywhere. In most of the world, they might not even fit on the roads.

Get over it folks, the cowboys died a long time ago. The expansion west, killing buffalo and Indians are in the past. Get into the 21st century and drive a car that is good for everyone. I would trade the SL55 for a Fisker Karma that performs and is efficient.

You ask me to explain "why 50+% feel compelled/obligated to buy ridiculously oversized inefficient vehicles." instead of, I presume, little, overpriced hybrids.

Same reason they live in the country, on land with worthless grass, in houses with indoor plumbing and walk-in closets - instead of an expensive ghetto apartment with 2 people per room.

IMHO, it is because they like the luxury and it is affordable.

The overwhelming majority of Europeans and Asians will not have that opportunity until they immigrate.

As our basic education levels erode, and the work ethic created by the 1929 economic turmoil fades and our child like reaction against self reliance grows and our worship of Hollywood personalities and material goods increases and our overweight problem grows; why does our desire to dominate others and dictate that they buy the cars WE like, by brute force if necessary, grow?
If you “get no thrill from driving a pickup” should they be banned?.

“What would it take to find and apply the proper cure?” You ask.
Institutionalize all peasants (pick-up and SUV owners) in psychiatric wards?
I hope Obama expended some effort to keep Russia from dominating Europe as Russia expands it’s grip on Europe’s source of oil.

The Europeans must worry that we think they are nuts – while we can still (temporarily) affordably drive 3/4 ton pickup trucks too big to even fit on most of their roads, they continue to ignore hybrids (as much or worse than we do) and just buy more oil from Putin.
The cowboys, buffalo and Indians that are dead, are pretty much only those born 70 - 100 (or more) years ago.

And the problem a SL55 or Fisker Karma solves is disposing of excess cash (and maybe some basic insecurities).