特斯拉价格保卫战

    早期的汽车也是先被富人接受的。第一台使用汽油的内燃机于1885年在德国诞生，在接下来20年中，引擎和汽车的其他部件都在不断改良。直到1908年亨利•福特的T型车面世，现代轿车才能为普通人所有。福特带来了大量创新——尤其是在装配线上——使老百姓也能买得起T型车。但他之所以能做到这点，也是因为在小型的高消费市场超过20年的创新经验所致。

    当然，政府并未在购买早期的手机或19世纪的汽车上给予富人税收减免。而电动汽车可能最终也将在没有政府帮助的情况下竞争。不过正如美国投入军费以防御中东地区潜在危险一样，投资加速新科技的发展，以减少美国对于来自动荡地区的石油依赖是有道理的。尽管石油产量达到新高，美国仍是全球市场的一部分。当沙特阿拉伯陷于混乱之时，美国的经济也会受油价飞涨拖累。摆脱这种危机的唯一办法，就是在汽车和卡车上少用油，即便本土的石油产量增加。

    借助政府来开辟早期市场，增加了电动汽车帮助我们达成这一目标的可能性。它已经帮助了天然气产业。21世纪初，天然气价格飙升，大大激励了钻井者去试验水平钻孔和水力压裂法，以便从页岩中提取天然气。税收减免让钻井者能够迅速弥补处理危险气井的成本。十多年来，在这一缓冲之下，他们提高了技术，降低了成本，增加了每口气井的产气量。到2008年天然气价格暴跌之时，水力压裂法的成本已经很低，仍然能够继续使用。

    如果任何人都能拥有一辆电动汽车，当然很好。但是事实上，现在就让电动汽车成为人人可有之物，成本之高难以想象。我也像其他人一样嫉妒能够驾驶特斯拉S型车的家伙。不过如果能因此产生一些突破，最终使得下一代汽车进入千家万户，并帮助美国摆脱石油依赖，那么这个价格我们也愿意付。(财富中文网)

    迈克尔•列维是《力量汹涌：能源，机遇，为美国的未来而战》一书的作者。他是美国外交关系协会能源安全和气候变化项目的高级研究员兼主管。

    译者：严匡正

    The automobile itself benefited from early adoption by wealthy buyers. The first successful gasoline-based internal combustion engine was introduced in Germany in 1885 and over the next two decades, engines and other parts of the vehicle steadily improved. Yet it wasn't until Henry Ford introduced his Model T in 1908 that modern automobile became accessible to mere mortals. Ford (F) introduced a host of innovations -- most notably the assembly line -- that made the Model T accessible to the masses. But he was only able to do that because he could build on innovations that had been driven by smaller, upscale markets for more than 20 years.

    The government, of course, didn't give rich people tax credits for buying early-model cellphones or nineteenth-century cars. And electric vehicles might eventually compete without government help. But just as Washington spends money on the military to protect the country from potential dangers in the Middle East, it makes sense for it to invest in accelerating new technology that could make the U.S. less dependent on the volatile region for oil. Despite record gains in U.S. oil production, we're still part of a global market; when things go haywire in Saudi Arabia, our economy suffers from skyrocketing oil bills. The only way to escape that danger is to use less oil in our cars and trucks even as we produce more crude at home.

    Using government to create an early market increases the odds that electric cars will help us do that. It helped the natural gas industry. During the 2000s, skyrocketing prices for natural gas created a big incentive for drillers to experiment with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") to extract natural gas from shale. Drillers were supported by tax credits that allowed them to quickly write off the costs of tackling risky wells. Over the course of the decade, that cushion let them improve their technology, bringing down costs and raising . By the time natural gas prices crashed in 2008, fracking had become so cheap that it persisted nevertheless.

    While it would be great if anyone could have a shot at owning one now, the reality is that making electric cars available to everyone today would be ruinously expensive. I'm just as envious of the guy who gets to drive a Tesla Model S as the next person. But if that's what it will take to get some breakthroughs that ultimately make the next generation of cars available to the masses -- and help slash American dependence on oil -- it's a price we should be willing to pay.

    Michael Levi is the author of The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future. He is a senior fellow and director of the energy security and climate change program at the Council on Foreign Relations.