The Perfect Automobile

The perfect automobile is the electrical car that can replenish its own energy while in motion (non-stop), has zero emissions, seats 5 people, has no fuel cost, and cost between 20,000 to 40,000 USD depending on its features. Such a car, should be less complicated to built than our current combustion engine cars that have more than 7,000 parts. Most of the technology for the perfect car has already been built and tested as of 2008. But, the difficult part will be to overcome the special interest groups protecting their current status quo, and creating all types of obstacles for manufacturing this perfect automobile.

Automobile companies and the US government seem to believe that the hybrid automobile, that yields up to 150 miles p/gallon, gasoline/electric, is the next logical step to reduce our carbon dependency and green house gases. This hybrid automobile has both components, the gas combustion engine plus the electrical and battery gear. It may reduce gas emissions and the use of fossil fuels, but it does not eliminate carbon dioxide altogether.

The Toyota Prius is an example of a current hybrid, that has been in operation since 1997. It is adequately priced, seats 5 passengers, but only delivers 48 miles p/gallon. On the contrary, the new Tesla Roadster is a 100% electrical vehicle that can reach 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, has a top speed of 125 mph and a range of 244 miles on its electrical charge. However, the Tesla Roadster only seats 2 people and is priced for a niche market at 109,000 USD. This price is about 6 times what its manufacturing cost should be. One of the reason that the price is so high could be because the manufacturer, only produced 150 vehicles in 2008 and plans to built 1,200 for 2009. Therefore, its cost is probably 6 times larger that the cost they would have if they were massively producing. This production is insufficient to be a serious market offering.