First, I'd like to say BUMP!!!
That fellow caused more than 40K in damage, he destroyed over a dozen SUVs at an average of 40K each, damaged the car dealership they were at, most likely caused the dealership to have to shut for a while, cost the local PD and fire department money to contain the blaze and investigate, from the sounds of things damaged nearby facilities, and put a lot of lives in danger when the FD had to put things out. The cost of his little stunt most likely was in the millions of dollars. Then there is the environmental damage he did, by burning all those SUVs he pumped a lot of toxic smoke into the atmosphere, and the time, effort and environmental hit from the manufacturing process was completely wasted as nobody got use from those vehicles. Surely he didn't think the manufacturer was going to not just add a dozen more to the year's run. His jail term for his eco-terrorism is about right. And, yes, it was terrorism.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
ter·ror·ism /ˈtɛrəˌrɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ter-uh-riz-uhm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.
WordNet - Cite This Source
terrorism
noun
the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source
ter·ror·ism (těr'ə-rĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n. The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
As you can see, his actions fit the classic definitions of terrorism. His goal was to cause people to stop selling SUVs, so this was terrorism for an ideological reason.
The better way for him to accomplish this would be to not buy SUVs, and try to convince others not to, or try to get laws passed to either make SUVs illegal or too costly to drive. The best way for that would be for the guy to run for office, then put forth bills to jack up the taxes on SUVs to astronomical levels. When the automakers approached him to get him to back off, ask for lots of money. When they pay the money, use that money to further the goal of getting SUVs off the road.
That being said, that Ford pic put me in mind of an electric conversion Fiero. Would be plenty for me to get to work and back, so long as it could maintain 70MPH. Range wouldn't be that important as I normally drive no more than 30 miles a day on workdays, so a top off every night would be easy to do. A 100 mile range with no more than a 3hr recharge would allow me to do everything I need to do 5 days a week. 80MPH with a 150 mile range, and I would only need a gasser once a month. Hell, if I could build 1 I could build 2, and then I'd only need the truck as a gasser, and use it every once in a great while when I have to go out of the local area or when I need an actual truck
And the only way electric cars will ever take off in this country is if they can maintain 90+MPH for at least 300 miles between fill-ups, with a means to recharge in 10 minutes. Either that, or 10 dollar a gallon gasoline.
The only way I see the 10 minute recharge happening right now, is if the battery packs were standardized and quickly removable, which would allow a person to pull into a station, and have a technician pull the depleted pack out and install a new pack, with that pack being guaranteed to last at least X amount of time. We'd also need a new way to calculate this that would be standard across all cars, like X times (Y +/- correction factor) to come up with a guaranteed mileage estimate. That guarantee would have to be something like if the battery craps out before you've gone this far, the company will send a vehicle out with a free battery pack or something. We'd also need a way to quickly determine if the mileage were cut due to travel or excessive power consumption, like a big stereo or using power accessories for a long time without moving.
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