The 2016 Chu GT–Car of Your Dreams! Edward Niedermeyer of Truth About Cars tries to make sense of President Obama’s reported claim that
“[Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.’”
What does “130 miles per gallon” even mean in a car that doesn’t use gallons at all? What size and price of car are we talking about? (Mitsubishi already sells a car that is somehow rated at 126 mpg in the city, but it’s tiny.) … If this is the stat Obama throws in the face of a stranger who argues with him, the President probably thinks it’s important. But is it realistic? … Larger implications: Obama is “data-driven,” his observant friends suggest. But how good is the data that’s driving him? The possibilities here are a) he’s well-informed; b) he’s being fed wildly optimistic estimates of the sort he wants to hear; c) he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about at all; or d) he’s BS’ing. … I’m guessing (b), at least when (as here) the issue is ideologically charged, patronage-driven and plays to Obama’s self-image as a transformational figure. … Plus, when Secretary Chu says something, you can take it to the bank! (And many have.) ….
P.S.: Another potentially embarrassing Obama green fantasy is this DOE estimate of a million Electric Vehicles (EVs) on the road by 2015. Note that Obama is counting on 500,000 Chevy Volt sales, or 120,000 a year. They are currently running at about 750 a month, or 9,000 a year. …