The Answer To Our Problems, EV's

Ah, so you're an automotive engineer, too. Then surely you realize that the modern EV has been around for 30+ years. Heck, Tesla's been around for almost 20. And they're just now starting to earn a profit- not from car sales mind you but from Federal handouts like $7500 rebates. Oh, and the sale of EPA regulatory permits to gas car makers who can't get a fleet average of 0 CO2 emissions. But we'll ignore that for the moment since WV v. EPA will likely wipe out EPA's authority to bribe the market like that.

Still, EVs are up to about a 5% market share. Still with roughly 300 million vehicles in this country (rounding up for argument's sake) and an average of about 16 million new vehicle sold every year and 1 million of those (again rounded up) and if we can triple EV production (a really generous assumption), we should be at an all electric fleet in maybe 100 years or so if all goes well.

Of course the biggest problem with EVs is that it's an inferior technology that simply can't compete with fossil fuels. Range is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% to 75% of comparable fossil fueled vehicles (my F150 has a range of 650 miles, the premium Lightning has only 300 miles. And that's only in summer and it's not towing. When it's cold or you're towing, range really sucks). And even in the most remote places in the country there are gas stations, sometimes 4 or 5 to a street corner. And fossil fuel tankers can be dispatched to the middle of nowhere to refuel construction equipment, farm vehicles, you name it.

And being an engineer you must know that battery storage technology is pretty much at it's physical limits (as defined not by fanzine editors but by physics). Good luck with that lame "EVs are improving all the time" shtick. Not really.

I'm really surprised to know that as an engineer you're such a die hard progressive. Most people I know that actually know enough about anything in the real world are those conservatives you're disparaging that actually invent and design the stuff modern life is made of.

They're the actual reason idiots don't heat your house with whale oil.

 

Isn't Natural Gas a fossil fuel. Wood is not as clean as Natural Gas in regard to air pollution, that is true but it may have a much smaller carbon footprint

I myself think the ONLY thing we should be doing environmentally is a Manhattan Project-level development of Fusion energy. Everything else is either illusions or temporary stopgaps at best. It is the ONLY thing that will actually save us in the end.

 

So do it. What are you waiting for?

 

Whale oil was used for lighting.

I'm not an engineer nor have I ever claimed to be. I do realize that completely new things are invented all the time. You seem to think that our present technology is all that will ever be but that is a common failing among engineers.

 

I need to make a fortune rivaling Elon's. Working on it.

I really don't see why the billionaires aren't behind Fusion rather than all this Space business but they never answer my emails

 

We also realize that magic fairy dust doesn't exist. Believing in it is a common failing of progressives.

 

Billionaires probably understand that fusion so far is simply an impossible fantasy.

 

So was Fission until 1943.

 

Unicorns make the MFD and unicorns are real, they're just invisible if you don't have the vision to see them.

Necessity makes invention.
.

 

And an electric grid and generation system woefully incapable of support any significant number EVs

 

You need to better educate yourself.

 

If they didn't need charging stations, they MIGHT be worthwhile.

 

If they compromise to a HYBRID set up which would eliminate all the charging stations completely and have all the reliability of gas cars but the reduces emissions and run on much higher mileage the best of both worlds.

Toyota Prius and Honda Accords are a success story and with the promising development of the Ford F-150 HYBRID of good power performance and much better mileage than standard gas.

 

So you missed the point, and you think we should dump everything into something that might not even work...

ok

 

True. But so far there's no real necessity to replace fossil fuels.

 

I have followed this closely for a long time. Please elaborate.

 

Incentive eroding.

Business
Reuters
Biden to sign law on Tuesday cutting most current EV credits

 

They're a business. What else would it be about?

 

100%.

Anyone who's into long term planning (even Preppers!) should be trying to find a solid pre-1990 car. Anything without computers or other tech.

 

It's all true, the more bells and whistles on our vehicles, the more money that is made. We could have gone on and
on with the limited amount of bells and whistles, even roll down windows.... how about that for Unique.....i

 

I have my eye on this. Very useful old Falcon!

 

Pro tip. Don't just cut out a little bit of a post that I made some time ago. No idea what you're talking about.

 

For suburban use, EVs are very viable. Once energy density of batteries increases it'll be a shoo-in... And actually if you've got a bit of money you can get a viable longer range EV.

They're also much better suited to automatic driving.

 

Last first: I hate the very idea of automatic driving.
The EV is quite viable as a short range runabout, and might therefore be a good second car for many families.
Most families with two (or more) cars have one that is the preferred highway cruiser for long trips. The EV is not suitable for this role, and likely will not be suitable in the foreseeable future. Reasons: limited range and lengthy recharging time. Use of heater or air conditioner degrades performance and range even further.