Automotive Blog

Last night my housemate and I went out to the drive-in. While we ate our less than healthy but every so tasty meal, we engaged in our usual habit of trash talking the SUVs that came driving by and approvingly noting the compacts and hybrids. We both pointed to a yellow Mini with white racing stripes at the same time. Since my housemate is handicapped and we have to haul a wheelchair around, a Mini wouldn’t be a good choice for us, but we like them — alot.

Now it looks as if those lucky green-living Californians are going to get first shot at 500 all-electric Minis currently being assembled in Oxford, England (batteries and motor installed in Munich.) It’s all pretty hush-hush, with no word on pricing or exactly when the gorgeous little babies will hit the street, but since gas hit $4.114 on average today, “all electric” is the buzz phrase of choice. Consumers are abandoning their gas guzzlers in droves and the buying public is forcing a highly accelerated development and delivery of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles.

On the way home we pulled up behind a car — and I confess I don’t remember the make and model — and right there on the trunk was the proclamation “biofuel.” The car wasn’t snickering and pointing at the gas guzzling dinosaurs, us included, around it, but you got the sense it would have liked to. So even with increased crude oil supplies seemingly pushing the per barrel price downward (about $11 in the last two days) to around $133 a barrel, the American driving public has had a taste of what high fuel costs can do to their lives on all levels. I don’t think this sea change in automotive preference is reversible and even though my pocketbook is hurting like everyone else’s, I think this may have been the kick in the pants America has needed to start doing something about our dangerous dependence on petroleum products, especially foreign oil.

Posted on July 16th, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: technology, lifestyle |

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