Electric cars
- Thread starter Jazzy
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I have no significant view....
But I do find it interesting that some THINK they are saving the planet. Often the electricity used is generated by burning coal or gas - it is just "kicking the can" down the road, it's still generating a carbon footprint. Now, there ARE examples of charging via solar energy (etc) but often that's not the case. AND we need to consider the harm done in mining the great amounts of Lithium for those batteries (a very, very rare element on Earth, hard to mine).
That said, as some other battery can be developed (and there's lots of research going on there) AND when electricity is purely green (no more coal, no more gas) this no doubt will the the future of cars (and other forms of ground transportation).
It's probably better than gas.... but it's not the "green" alternative some try to make of it.
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But I do find it interesting that some THINK they are saving the planet. Often the electricity used is generated by burning coal or gas - it is just "kicking the can" down the road, it's still generating a carbon footprint. Now, there ARE examples of charging via solar energy (etc) but often that's not the case. AND we need to consider the harm done in mining the great amounts of Lithium for those batteries (a very, very rare element on Earth, hard to mine).
That said, as some other battery can be developed (and there's lots of research going on there) AND when electricity is purely green (no more coal, no more gas) this no doubt will the the future of cars (and other forms of ground transportation).
It's probably better than gas.... but it's not the "green" alternative some try to make of it.
.
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Fritz Kobus
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I’m not sure that they are that much better for the environment if you look properly at end to end life. Right now electric vehicles, batteries and, more importantly, the infrastructure to support them are still in development. It does not yet make economic sense for me to change my perfectly functional car for an expensive electric one, I do not drive enough annual miles for the reduced running cost to pay for the initial cost.
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It's always good to see government officials telling the people driving 20-year-old cars that the solution to $5/gallon gas is to spend $60,000 on an electric vehicle. I'm not sure why the government tinkers with tax credits for people who buy them - it would make so much more sense for the government to just subsidize the price rather than leaving people to file a claim for it at the end of the year and exclude people based purely on income. Doesn't the retired person who spends some of their nest egg deserve the same credit as anyone else? Apparently not.
I have no doubt they work well for some people. If you do a lot of miles and all of your journeys are within the range of the batteries they probably make sense. If you need to carry a lot of stuff, or don't have a reliable place to charge it (where I used to live in the city it wasn't a given you'd even be able to park on your own street, so how overnight charging would work remains a mystery), or make a lot of longer journeys, they don't make much sense.
I'm not sure how well the national power grid will cope if every single household installs a 50A feed to charge their electric car, nor am I sure how employers will react to news that someone can't come to work because of an overnight power outage that meant their car didn't charge.
And then there's the possibility of something like "that meme you posted on Faceplant is offensive. As punishment your car won't start for 48 hours."
I have no doubt they work well for some people. If you do a lot of miles and all of your journeys are within the range of the batteries they probably make sense. If you need to carry a lot of stuff, or don't have a reliable place to charge it (where I used to live in the city it wasn't a given you'd even be able to park on your own street, so how overnight charging would work remains a mystery), or make a lot of longer journeys, they don't make much sense.
I'm not sure how well the national power grid will cope if every single household installs a 50A feed to charge their electric car, nor am I sure how employers will react to news that someone can't come to work because of an overnight power outage that meant their car didn't charge.
And then there's the possibility of something like "that meme you posted on Faceplant is offensive. As punishment your car won't start for 48 hours."
NathanH83
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I say, don’t knock it until you try it. I test drove a Tesla, and they are POWERFUL! It’s like driving a roller coaster. It’s tons of fun. Plus there’s so many benefits of not having to change the oil and all of those kinds of things. It’s clearly a superior technology. I’m all for it. There’s also a company called Rivian making electric trucks, and they’re absolutely awesome.
The only problem is electric vehicles are too expensive for the average person to afford. I know I can’t afford one, as much as I want one.
These people want to try and condemn you for not saving the planet by driving an electric car. But that’s ridiculous because most people can’t afford them.
Then they drive up gas prices to try to push people to go electric. Maybe some rich people will go electric, but most poor/middle class people are stuck with gas cars because that’s all we can afford. So when they drive up gas prices they’re really just punishing the poor.
Driving up gas prices also kind of punishes the rich, because it causes electric vehicles to increase in cost. Electric vehicles are assembled in a factory, and there are hundreds of components that are shipped by truck to that factory in order to assemble them. The semi trucks delivering the components run on diesel! So driving up the cost of gas and diesel makes it more expensive to deliver the components, and thus makes it more expensive to assemble the electric vehicle. That’s why Rivian recently had to increase the price of their electric trucks.
So, electric cars are great and all, but we’re just not there yet. For right now, it’s just a rich person’s game. All I can do is sit on the sidelines wishing I could play.
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If you make a lot of short journeys or do a lot of stop-start city-style driving they might be worth a look. My concern would still be the cost of replacing batteries when that time comes, although when batteries provide assistance rather than all the power they might be cheaper. I never really looked at them in detail.