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These companies do not necessarily aim to grow to the size of Toyota or GM. Says Bill Green, a partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners, a venture-capital firm that has invested in Tesla Motors: "No one argues today that the Tesla will serve anything but a small subset of the market. But it has changed the conversation. The big car companies will look at Tesla and say, 'Hey, maybe I can use that technology in my cars...
Even if Fambro succeeds, the impact on the market will be minimal. He hopes to sell 3,000 to 4,000 cars the first year; GM alone produces about 300,000 cars a month. Perhaps the Aptera will be used as part of a light-rail system where the commuter will hop into a small car waiting at the train station. Or perhaps the Aptera will serve as a model for cars of the future: lightweight, great gas mileage, and loaded with computer controls...
...another problem in keeping up with demand is an acute shortage of the nickel-metal-hydride batteries required for hybrid vehicles. GM's launch of its new hybrid-SUVs has been delayed for nearly three months by a labor dispute at a key supplier of the batteries. And Toyota's chances of getting more hybrids into showrooms is foundering on the battery shortage. "We can't produce enough batteries right now," Carter says. A new plant for the nickel-metal-hydride batteries won't come on line until 2010. GM is deep into negotiations to purchase the battery subsidiary...
...demand for hybrid batteries will only grow. GM Chairman Richard Wagoner says his company plans to have eight hybrid models on the road by the end of 2008. "Our view is today's levels are a far more accurate prediction of where fuel prices are going to be in the future," he says. "It appears we have reached a tipping point. Global demand is ahead of global supply. Certainly it looks like the energy demand is going to grow." Honda, which posted record sales in May thanks to the popularity of its compact Civic, also is amping up the production...
...like hybrids. One sign of Washington's torpor was the decision in December 2007 to raise fuel-economy standards to 35 m.p.g. by 2020. Not too impressive a goal, considering that today's hybrids already exceed 40 m.p.g. And new plug-in hybrids, like the Chevrolet Volt prototype that GM had up and running in April, should get 100 m.p.g. by 2010--and they could get even better mileage as electric batteries improve...