Greedy Motherfuckers, that's who.
If you've not seen
Who Killed the Electric Car? I would highly recommend it. I am watching it right now for the third time but now I am going to make a vow.
When I moved to California I had to buy an automobile, an item that is a huge burden and something I could never imagine wanting back home in NYC, but because of the complete lack of viable public transportation on the entire West Coast I had to buy a car. (Yeah, Yeah, all you Bay Area native west coasters will talk about BART and MUNI. Like I said, complete lack of viable public transportation. Go to the "Tri-State Area", you'll see what I mean.)
Today I make a vow. I will never buy another car for the rest of my life until I can buy one that is like the EV1. If I have to hold my current automobile together with duct tape and chewing gum then that is what I will do. I am an experienced mechanic and I can do it.
I also believe in my heart of hearts that I will buy a new car someday, and here is why. I am a Gen-Xer. We want environmental sensibility. We are sick of garden slug level IQs and greedy Oil Companies, but there are still not enough of us. Gen Y, Millenniums, etc will demand what I want and that is where the greed factor kicks back in. When the auto manufacturers can't give away cars because they run on internal combustion engines, a technology that is over a century old, then common sense and logic will prevail and we will finally be rid of the noisy, smelly, human killing, planet killing and extremely slow and slovenly internal combustion engine and have clean, quiet, insanely fast electric vehicles.