Electric vehicles are overhyped

American Thinker ^ | 06/12/2019 | Peter Skurkiss

[SeekAndFind]

In the automotive world, there's a madcap scramble on to produce electric vehicles (E.V.s). It's not just Elon Musk's Telsa. All the major car companies are on board with the endeavor. The industry as a whole is said to have plowed some $300 billion of capital into building E.V.s, with more money to come. This is all due to two interrelated factors, neither of which, by the way, is market-driven. The first is the hysteria over alleged man-made global warming. The second is government mandates and inducements.

Inducements come in the form of tax rebates. This handout, which started out at $7,500 for a buyer of an E.V., later dropped in half and will soon be $1,875. The tax rebates were and still are vital for E.V.s. A report from McKinsey management consultants says electric cars cost about $12,000 more to produce than they can get in the marketplace. Even with tax rebates, E.V.s are a losing proposition for the auto industry. So why are E.V.s being manufactured?

There's the hysteria over global warming. It has affected auto executives (although not necessarily their customers). Groupthink drives these decision-makers to be politically correct and "go Green," whether it makes sense or not. Government mandates play an even bigger role, however.

There are no government requirements stipulating that X percent of a car company's fleet of vehicles must be E.V.s. Instead, Washington has done that indirectly by nudging the companies to produce E.V.s by means of the fuel-mileage mandates. The government mandate is called the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It does not require every model a company manufactures to meet the mileage standard. It applies to the harmonic mean of all models the company sells.

[Red Badger]

All manufacturers are developing EVs, hoping that battery technology will soon supply a new miracle battery to power them with.

Making the car is a breeze. Making the battery is a nightmare..............

[pepsionice]

Last year, I went to the solar panel show, and spent around twenty hours surveying what I’d need to do with the house and the panel idea. This year, I rode in the new Audi Etron e-car. After looking at everything and then going back to the hydrogen technology for a peek....I’m more convinced that the hydrogen technology will arrive within ten years and be a better choice than the e-car business. Sadly, most of these companies put their money with e-cars, and only a handful went the hydrogen way.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Could there be some other boon from the boom in electric vehicle interest?

The concept isn’t new, I am given to understand. A hundred years ago, engineers were running cars (but not for very far) on lead-acid batteries, the best that existed, using then-current motor technology.

Modern electronics and computer control have brought us better coordination, while modern battery technology has brought us better efficiency. Modern motor technology helps somewhat, but quite early on in the history of electric motors we were already getting better than 90% energy efficiency there.

Maybe this is like a “space program” that, although undertaken for questionable motives (in the case of the space program, a fleeting national glory) gave us fruits on the side that we are still using today.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Let a thousand automotive flowers bloom, so that we may see what the best ones are. The best ones today may not be the best ones tomorrow.

[Red Badger]

Even IF some miracle battery was available right this minute, our power grid could not handle the load of millions of cars being charged simultaneously. All that electrical energy that is stored in the batteries has to come from somewhere, and that ‘somewhere’ is the electric grid.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics will not be repealed and neither will Ohm’s Law.................

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

The cars have 1/4 the complexity of a regular car. It’s all about the unstable batter. The battery is the incongruity. It’s like having a hole in the gas tank, the batteries self deplete.

Storing electricity is like herding cats, it just doesn’t work and won’t work for at best 40 more years.

There is so much carbon used making them they take 10 years to catch up to regular cars.

They are completely ridiculous except as nitch products.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If we got over our CO2 bugaboo, we could add clean coal to the electricity mix. This is something that looks like it will grow by evolution rather than by radical revolution.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Making the battery is not carbon friendly.

[Red Badger]

Sadly, most of these companies put their money with e-cars, and only a handful went the hydrogen way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle

[Red Badger]

Neither is charging it...................

[V_TWIN]

And let’s not forget the environmental impact of the manufacture AND disposal of the batteries. As I understand it both are a very nasty business.

[MrEdd]

Don’t be ignorant.

The space program was never primarily about national glory.
It was about demonstrating the ability to unstoppably deliver any number of even the largest nuclear warheads anywhere we wanted in a way that the despots of that time could neither deny, minimize, or dismiss.

Have you ever considered the potential enrichment that could come from actually reading books about a wide range of historical topics? And maybe some biographies.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I suppose the liberals all have home generators powered by burning fetus’s.

[Red Badger]

https://futurism.com/lithium-from-supervolcanoes-could-power-an-electric-future

[Red Badger]

....and unicorn farts................

[taildragger]

Again I stand alone. This revolution is coming here in MI and everyone knows it. It is not about green it is about 50/50 weight distribution with the mass down low w/ the skateboard type battery pack that adds to chassis rigidity. Fungability of drivetrain components that are even stackable in modules for more torque. It will be in fact one hell of a lot simpler IMHO. No more developing engines of all Liter sizes and having the EPA give you an anal exam during testing and the 100's of millions to develop and certify them. It is about acceleration that in smooth and frankly mindblowing. It is about the 229 jobs in "Electrification" posted here in MI the other day on a major job board. It is about Toyota throwing in the towel and going this route as the hook up with Panasonic as their Solid State Battery partner. Solid State Batteries will be here soon enough. I am not just pulling this out of my tuckus, I have had the pleasure of actually discussing at length what is going on in that arena with one of the players in it, and for the record none of this is investment advice and you couldn't if you tried, much of all this is VC or angel money and the Mutual Funds and ETF's in this area slim and none, and IMHO wall street has there heads you know were on this one.

Even Peter DeLorenzo of The AutoExtremist gets it, in his latest editorial and he is a bigger piston head curmudgeon than I, and note his hat tip to Solid State Batteries and Toyota towards the end....

http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2019/6/10/batting-1000.html

[Moonman62]

There are reasons to buy a Tesla other than government incentives:

How the Tesla Model 3 became the World’s Safest Car!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkayYiwrjyQ&feature=youtu.be

[reg45]

I have been a hydrogen advocate since the early 1970s. I am saddened by the current “all the eggs in one basket” shortage in California.

[Moonman62]

From a new Model 3 owner:

Here are thoughts on the first 250 miles of owning my M3 Performance. They are honest, pensive, and varied. In a word, WOW.

https://old.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/bya6u4/here_are_thoughts_on_the_first_250_miles_of/