VOA标准英语2012--Electric Cars Face Issues in US

Electric Cars Face Issues in US

Fate of the US electric car

Volt¹ owner Frederico Goodsaid can practically sneak² up behind people. He says he likes the "sheer silence" of his electric car.

Goodsaid also enjoys driving by these. "I pass over 50 gas stations as I'm coming to work," he said. "Yes."

The Volt's battery runs for 75 kilometers (45-50 miles). Then it can switch over to a gasoline-powered generator³ for another 550 kilometers (340-350 miles). 

Goodsaid recharges his car in a regular outlet⁴ at home, or he can check his smartphone for battery charging locations near his office.

Neil Kopit is with a Maryland car dealership⁵. He says his Volts⁶ are not idling on his lot. "My guys are out looking for two truckloads of them right now because I don't have enough to sell to the people who want them," he explained.

That's the kind of excitement President Obama hoped for when he visited a Volt manufacturing plant after the government bailed⁷ General Motors out of bankruptcy⁸ with billions of dollars in loans. "You're producing the cars of the future," he told automakers.

Slow sales

But Volt didn't hit sales targets for 2011 and saw slow sales in January and February. So General Motors will temporarily stop production for five weeks. That has some questioning the future of electric cars in the U.S.

Lacey Plache is with Edmunds.com, a car information website that gets 14 million hits a month. We spoke⁹ with her via Skype. "The basic problem is that these vehicles are so much more expensive than their gasoline-powered counterparts," Plache stated. 

Plache says gasoline would need to double in price ($8-10) before drivers would see a benefit. But at the same time, she says, automakers are building cars with better fuel economy. "That provides very strong competition to electric vehicles and plug-ins," she said.

Alternative to high fuel cost

Another issue is the lack of public electrical outlets¹⁰. They are not special -- just regular plugs. But without them, drivers worry about taking the car too far from home. Despite the slowdown in Volt production, other American carmarkers are not putting on the brakes.

Mark Vaughn writes for Autoweek Magazine. Here's what he says, via Skype. "Within two years, we will have in the United States car market 20 electric vehicles available and as word gets out that they work," he said. "I think this market in the United States will really grow." 

Back in his Volt, Goodsaid tells us a few years is nothing. "When I got my driver's license¹¹ I was driving my mom's car, which was a 1967 Peugeot, so, times have changed," he noted¹².

But it may be a long road ahead before technology totally takes the wheel. 

1 volt   

n.伏特，伏

参考例句：

• You may use 100 and 110 volt appliances in your room.您可以在房间使用100及110伏特的电器。
• The common service voltage of electric power in our country is 220/380 volt.我国普通供电电压为220/380伏。

2 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

3 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

4 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

5 dealership   

n.商品特许经销处

参考例句：

• The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
• A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。

6 volts   

n.（电压单位）伏特( volt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The floating potential, Vf is usually only a few volts below ground. 浮置电势Vf通常只低于接地电位几伏。 来自辞典例句
• If gamma particles are present, potential differences of several thousand volts can be generated. 如果存在γ粒子，可能产生几千伏的电位差。 来自辞典例句

7 bailed   

保释，帮助脱离困境( bail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Fortunately the pilot bailed out before the plane crashed. 飞机坠毁之前，驾驶员幸运地跳伞了。
• Some water had been shipped and the cook bailed it out. 船里进了些水，厨师把水舀了出去。

8 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。