Say Goodbye to Gas Guzzlers?

[KS_Naslund]

Aren't we forgetting something? Electric cars have to get their power from electricity

True, some North American hybrids use a fuel to electricity ratio in order to power their vehicles, where the electricity is received from a higher-performance car battery. And even though cars including the Toyota Prius and the StarRotor Hybrid mechanically store heat energy into their battery from braking, it only restores 30% to your battery.

Here's where that changes: the new generation hybrids don't even HAVE a battery: The Aptera's drivetrain is powered by pressurized nitrogen that replaces large amounts of diesel when released by the car's motor. As braking occurs in the drivetrain, nitrogen becomes compressed into a cheap reservoir, and fully helps accelerate the car with the fuel when released. Hence, less wasted fuel and much higher mileage!

by making cars with a higher mileage rating people need to buy gas less often, and when people buy gas less often, the companies make less money. So they raise prices.

Kind of, but there's more to the story. Imperial Oil, the main gas distributor throughout Canada (Exxon Mobile and Conoco Philips in the US) rebuttles this statement by saying that the lower gas emissions create a beneficial domino effect.

Lower gas emissions= Overall less gas demand= Less crude oil needs from developing countries= Less money spent on extraction.

A smaller need for crude oil means Petroleum Oil (and probably the American companies as well: Conoco Philips and Exxon Mobile) is capable of lowering their prices down a penny or two per litre to attract more customers, while also less need from developing countries benefits their stock margin! So losing potential money from better mileage can be a benefit to them on a large scale as well.