Interesting segway. I tried to address it in my initial post as well. I don't see electric cars for now as being "the answer" certainly not on lithium. I do think electric makes more sense than burning dinosaurs, as long as the electricity is generated appropriately. Which the world is rapidly working towards.D Griff wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:29 am Pretty interesting stuff here. The OP is ... basically the costs to run are the same and the vehicles are considerably more money upfront AND depreciate at a higher rate typically.
I understand the appeal if say, your company offers charging on their dime, even though conceptually I think that is ... Tt's just a "rich getting richer" type benny as the only people who actually give a fuck about their power bills cannot afford a Tesla or most EVs and they also dwell in apartments where EVs wouldn't be practical.
Although EVs may be lower maintenance over the long haul, first owners don't do anything but maybe a $0-100 annual oil change on ICE vehicles. This really begs the question to me are .govs and other entities pushing so hard for EVs and not exploring other technologies or trying to just reduce our dependency on individually owned automobiles in general.
1. EVs are rarely better for the environment - in many cases they're worse in areas where coal and natural gas are used for energy. Battery production/disposal isn't friendly to the planet.
2. As discussed - no cost benefit to speak of
3. Infrastructure isn't there in any part of the US - CA has rolling black outs for fucks sake... how do we plan to address adding a huge amount of demand to our power grid?
4. Currently EVs represent sub 5% of vehicles in the US. Do we have enough materials to manufacture batteries for them to be 20% or 50% or 100%? Will we really run out of gas before we do lithium and other battery materials if we move to all EV?
I feel that EVs are great for commuting - they're quieter, no need to get gas on your hands, great acceleration, they're most efficient in cities/low speeds. All of that is great if you have a home and workplace where you can charge, have an ICE vehicle for long trips, etc. I just don't understand why the world seems to see them as this inevitable future direction that's going to solve all of our problems.
If we truly wanted to "spew less C02" into the atmosphere, we would have to gauge what electric cars are truly doing to the environment end to end. There are some videos on this trying to "debunk" that they are dirty, but I feel like they are biased. Because if you go against the green new deal you will get banned off the internet.