Consider_this

GM's Volt Could Earn a 230 MPG Rating

This is the (first step) to the future of energy independence.

1. Pure EV.
2. Electricity from non-petroleum sources, preferably solar/wind/ocean.
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3. Drastically reduced oil demand. No more shipping billions of USD per day to oil producing countries.

If this really becomes mainstream (It's hard at 40K). USD/USA may become the strongest yet.

This car won't be for everyone, but look at the big picture:

1. 80% of commuters drive 40miles or less to work
2. Anyone of these 80% commuters drive a Volt, their *OIL* consumption drops to near zero.

This is enough to cause a staggering change in oil market's demand; dropping to zero for majority of commuting, and only use oil for occasional vacation/long distance is a huge deal. If anything, it'll cause over-supply of oil.

And people who scream about power sources, know your facts:

www.eia.doe.gov/cnea
f/electricity/epm/tabl...

1.
Liquid Petroleum as a source of electricity is barely 1.1% in the USA, partly due to the high prices now.

2. coal/coke/natural gas accounts for about 50% of electricity. In the USA, we're like the Saudi Arabia for Coal/NG. Recall I argued for energy independence, so keep that in mind.

3. Electricity plants are way more efficient at energy extraction than internal combustion engine. Electric motors are also more efficient, with a very smooth torque curve possible. Simply shifting to electric use gains efficiency and reduction in pollution if everything else is static.

4. Due to difference in net energy efficiency, economies of scale in a powerplant, each unit of kinetic energy (the only energy that matters) from an EV source is up to 10 times cheaper than ICE petroleum based kinetic energy, if you use today's electric prices. Even if you assume electricity will QUADRUPLE (you must be really mad to assume that), it will still be 2.5 times cheaper than petroleum standards today, this is assuming GAS prices don't go up!

5.About 25% and increasing (due to cap and trade) of the electricity sources will come from clean sources (incl Nuclear), and cap and trade have no/positive effect on energy costs from these sources.

6. This technology is also future proof. Anything can be converted into Electricity. If a cheap source of hydrogen can be found, it can be made into a fuel cell and directly power electricity to the EV.

7. Electricity is the most efficient way to transport energy, better than even transporting Oil.

8. If majority of the Volt owners recharge at night, then we're not really straining the electric grid, because it's using idle capacity that's going to waste anyway. This actually smooths out electric demand and makes it easier to plan and maintain.

9. Price is a big problem now, but remember, once you go into ELECTRIC world, Moore's law does play an effect, because its a lot easier to innovate electrically than mechanically. So I would expect prices to drop every 18 months like laptops / PCs.

10. People don't get the doomsday scenario I mentioned. If this is wildly successful, it truly can topple the middle eastern ruling parties and cause social programs to collapse. If Middle East descends into chaos and even more extremist than now, that would be a very bad thing for everyone. Many prophecies stated that the end of the world would originate from middle east. I hope Volt isn't the trigger for it. This is a REAL CON that I see from this product, if it takes off.

11. Inventing Volt is *NOT* taking away any gas engines! In fact, gas owners should rejoice as less people will now compete for limited supply of gas.

NYSE Short Interest Hits Record Highs... Again

Wow!

53% of shorts vs float!!! More than half of the list is > 25%!!!

Anyone need more evidence that bears are going to be burnt to a crisp soon? It's like a fire hazard by piling on dry twigs on a hot summer -- and the shorts are the dry twigs!

I'm a contrarian, I shorted before anyone shorted. This kind of statistics will make me run far far away from shorting these.