Blog Delta – Page 3 – Just another UBC Blogs weblog

An Argumentative Forecast: Hydrogen vs. Electricity

We all know that gasoline powered vehicles are on their slow way out of our world. And rightfully so, but the real question is…what’s next?!

All major car manufacturers ponder this very question, and it seems to come down to two options: electric cars or hydrogen fuel cell cars. I want to present my argument for hydrogen cars. Honda already has a fuel cell car, the FCX Clarity, in production in Los Angles (where hydrogen filling stations are available). Fuel cell cars are the future of this world (as compared to electric cars). The reason for this is simple: our way of life has been shaped around the gasoline car—you get in and drive as long as you can go and then you fill up and keep going. Electric cars would change our way of life as we know it because they have to be charged for several hours before you can keep going.

Why spend millions of dollars on market research when the answer is so simple? A rational consumer will only desire a product that has a marginal benefit; waiting several hours for my car to charge up is not exactly what I call a marginal benefit.

fcx

Source:

http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/

(Word count: 200)

This academic year in one of my business classes somebody mentioned the Ford Pinto Scandal, and it seemed ever so interesting. So, I intensely researched it and was quite surprised about how morally wrong Ford was at the time. Basically the fuel tank of the Pinto was placed in such a way that a rear-end collision would likely thrust the tank into protruding bolts which would likely cause it to explode. The tank would almost certainly be forced into the bolts due to the lack of a significant rear bumper. The design is below:

Pinto Fuel Tank Undercarriage Diagram

Pinto Fuel Tank Side View

Ford was aware of this design flaw-and many others- but they figured, with a cost-benefit analysis, that it would be cheaper to pay for all the lawsuits from the deaths than to actually recall the cars ($11 per car). It was almost like Ford was letting people burn to death in exchange for money. Rightfully Ford had to endure some consequences for this. Their brand name was hit hard, and even to this day many people look at Ford’s Pinto scandal with shame. But, the sad fact remains that over 30 people died because of Ford’s immorality.

Sources:

http://www.sunypress.edu/pdf/53079.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?id=qIlPURPTx30C&lpg=PP1&dq=Ford%20Pinto%20case&pg=PR16#v=onepage&q=&f=false

word count: 192