Henry Petroski made a compelling argument that necessity isn't the mother of invention, luxury is. We don't create things to solve problems, we create things to solve problems slightly better because we're lazy.

The Segway was never intended for poor people. It's a scooter with the wheels on sideways that requires a Celeron to stay upright. But without Segways there aren't those single-wheeled things cruising around town that I see people commuting on. Without a fuckton of force-feedback we have no drones. Without drones we don't have half the tech industry trying to figure out how to deliver stuff and people without roads.

NOBODY played GM Impact games because GM didn't bother investing the Impact with cachet. Hummers? Oh fuck yeah for some reason a surplus military jeep that's been the greatest embarrassment since the Gama Goat became the pinnacle of luxury transport so which did they sell more of?

There's no Henry Ford without Wilhelm Maybach. Also, you're being ridiculous - the tax bracket that buys Model Ss and Audi RSs gets hella more tax breaks than the tax bracket leasing a Chevy Volt and you know it. Being able to brag about the tax breaks is THE motivator for the $150k-a-year set. If you would like to diminish the use of fossil fuels, you need fossil fuels to visibly diminish on MTV's cribs.

I mean I could go on but hopefully you get the point - you gotta get the starfuckers, man.

Tax receipts usually subside? Fuck yeah but by then you've gotten your rebate. You seem to be attempting to triangulate some weird "gas cars are actually cheaper because they pay more of their fair share of the road" argument that just comes across as "I hate electric vehicles" and that's fine. I drove a Leaf, drove a 911 and went 911 so hard.

But you're arguing with a spreadsheet, dude.