Posted on 02/01/2021 7:03:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
s can be completely replaced by electric vehicles in a decade-and-a-half, and that this would be a good thing, even if possible. Under threat of government action, however, the world’s major auto manufacturers are falling in line boosting production of plug-in models, and upstart Tesla Motors is now the world’s most valuable auto manufacture, based on the value of its capital stock issued and in the public’s hands. Mary T. Barra, CEO of General Motors, has pledged to sell only zero emission vehicles by 2035. That would meet the deadline imposed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed an executive order banning the sale of internal combustion vehicles in the nation’s largest car market by 2035.
Charging electrric cars at work makes sense, as it rquires several hours. But what if you want to drive on a long trip?
Photo credit: Felix Cramer CC-BY-SA 2.0 license
GM, rescued from liquidation courtesy of US taxpayers (and bondholders who were cheated out of their place in line as creditors by the Obama administration), may simply be sucking up to governmental power. But Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota Motors, the world’s largest (or second largest, depending on the year). and grandson of the automaker’s founder, has spoken out and called out fallacy of thinking that this is possible or desirable. [I must here disclose that I was a consultant for a Toyota company for several years, ]
According to this account in CarBuzz:
As the grandson of Toyota founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, the scion was raised surrounded by all aspects of the auto industry and his business acumen is second to none. So when he had some harsh words for electric vehicles at the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association end-of-year press conference last week, people took notice.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Toyota can certainly make electric powered vehicles. It introduced the hybrid Prius, after all, and has a strong position in that market. Toyota’s mastery of the discipline of mass production of vehicles is such that it could do well no matter what power source is used. But the costs of complete conversion to electricity-powered vehicles are mind boggling.
Where will all, the electricity needed to power to entire fleet of cars in the US (or Japan) come from? Despite the fantasies of greenies, it won’t be from windmills or solar farms. They are too unreliable, take up too much land, and cost too much. Right now, it is coal and natural gas that produce the most electricity at the most reasonable cost. And they emit CO2. Plus, there is considerable loss of power due to resistance in the transmission lines, requiring an even greater amount of gross power before the net power reaches the battery in the vehicle, charging at the user’s home ort some other location. Nuclear power does offer some potential, but how many people want to live near the hundreds and hundreds of nuclear power plants that would be required to fuel the nation’s vehicles?
WHO WILL TELL THE GREENS THERE IS NO BATTERY FAIRY?
For the longest while I have been asking, “Where do environmentalists and Democrats think all these batteries for our oil-free transportation fleet are going to come from?” It seems they think there is a Battery Fairy out there somewhere who will magically supply the ginormous battery capacity, and additional supply of electricity to charge them, in order to deliver us to our blessed fossil-fuel-free future.
He cites an article in Wired, The Spiraling Environmental Cost of our Lithium Battery Addiction:
But there’s a problem. As the world scrambles to replace fossil fuels with clean energy, the environmental impact of finding all the lithium required to enable that transformation could become a serious issue in its own right. “One of the biggest environmental problems caused by our endless hunger for the latest and smartest devices is a growing mineral crisis, particularly those needed to make our batteries,” says Christina Valimaki an analyst at Elsevier. . .
It’s a relatively cheap and effective process, but it uses a lot of water – approximately 500,000 gallons per tonne of lithium. In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, mining activities consumed 65 per cent of the region’s water. That is having a big impact on local farmers – who grow quinoa and herd llamas – in an area where some communities already have to get water driven in from elsewhere. . .
Two other key ingredients, cobalt and nickel, are more in danger of creating a bottleneck in the move towards electric vehicles, and at a potentially huge environmental cost. Cobalt is found in huge quantities right across the Democratic Republic of Congo and central Africa, and hardly anywhere else. The price has quadrupled in the last two years.
I am glad that some grownups are pointing out that the electric vehicle conversion emperor has no clothes on. But that hasn’t stopped governments, manufacturers, and investors from pretending that electric vehicles are our only future.
And of course, in the name of saving the planet, Joe Biden just killed 11,000 jobs by stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline from being built.
Ping.
“on a net basis, there are more emissions for vehicle bought and used for its expected lifetime, than would be generated by buying and using a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle.”
All things considered a Humvee is greener than an electric vehicle.
Humvee IS electric!
And $125,000.
Battery replacement cost if you can find the batteries or you’ll have to buy a new car ,LOL
I wonder how much NudeScum is getting in kickbacks and bribes.
“Humvee IS electric!”
The worst of both worlds, But I want one.
The article asks the question “how many people want to live near the hundreds and hundreds of nuclear power plants that would be required to fuel the nation's vehicles?” The answer may lie in liquid-salt reactors fueled with other power metals, as well as waste from existing fission reactors. The concept is that the reactors can be built in factories and trucked to neighborhood sites, so the cost would be nominal (and MUCH cheaper than traditional fission reactors). Also, no need for huge plots of land near rivers and such.
I believe the article's author may be a bit shortsighted about the energy storage part. I remember when NiCad battery packs were the only rechargables. To think that lithium packs are the ultimate ignores the number of graduate students looking at other chemistries. Also, supercapacitors anyone?
It’s a subtle and bizarre thing.
EVs may make some sense for city dwellers. Their distances are short. They weren’t burning much gasoline anyway.
Advertised range between multi hour recharge in EVs is hyped to the point of outright inaccuracy. The issue is winter. The battery loses capacity at low temp, but it can use some power to keep itself warm. That costs range, but that’s not the big range cost. The big range cost is keeping you warm in the cabin. That can chop range 40%.
Range quotes presume you drive in a heavy coat and have the heat turned off.
Battery replacement cost is a big deal and it generates steep depreciation. The cult types throw this number away because the intro companies claimed to provide free replacement. Not going to happen.
Conventional car loses 40% of its value in 3 years. An EV typical depreciation is . . . hard to quote because the cult surrounds it and tries to extract battery replacement cost from the number, moving that cost to maintenance. Depreciation will be about . . . about . . . 55% in 3 yrs. The really big problem with this is EVs cost much more on day 1, so the 55% is off of a higher number.
There may be a shortage of child slaves in Central Africa to dig out the cadmium...
Later.
I’m on my second leased cadillac, a CT6, which we love. The CT6 has been discontinued and cadillac is proposing a Tesla look alike. I’ve received numerous surveys from Cadillac asking for my opinion on a variety of features. The lates wanted my opinion on electric vehicles. The first question asked, on a scale of 1-10, my interest in an electric vehicle. I answered ‘1’ and the survey immediately concluded at that point. No more questions.
The automotive industry sees big government subsidies and big penalties for gasoline using vehicles (MPG). Plus EV are much cheaper to manufacture with fewer moving parts. No wonder they’re pushing EV.
BTW, I’ve told my local dealership that this cadillac will be my last. I have no interest in an EV.
I have read that there is technology that exists which can enzymatically recombine C02 and water to form long chain hydrocarbons very similar to gasoline. Almost zero other stuff like sulfur...etc...Clears the atmosphere of excess c02(how did they determine what that is?)...and less impetus for oil drilling..we use oil for many other things beside gadoline....a win for everybody. Dems won’t buy it as it destroys their insider stock trading.
“And $125,000.”
Base: $79,995
“There may be a shortage of child slaves in Central Africa to dig out the cadmium...”
Which liberal fake news channel are you watching?
Banking of some future invention of components for batteries large enough to store and power wind or solar energy is a fool's errand. How about we wait until these futures breakthroughs happen and are proven before mandating conversion to electric cars that we won't be able to deliver on?
Experts say that even maxing out our capacity for creating wind and solar energy will result in only satisfying 25-30% of our power needs. Where is the rest of the energy coming from? For now and the foreseeable future, fossil fuels.
So for now, electric cars are essentially coal-powered cars. Because that is where the electricity currently comes from to charge their batteries. Coal.
It will take decades and decades and decades before we can switch to more electric cars or other forms of transportation, because of the battery problems alone. This is not even taking into consideration all of the fossil fuels that will be required to manufacture wind and solar equipment and the production of the electric cars themselves.
The eco-wackos are so enamored with clean energy that they don't think ahead of their noses. The unintended consequences of switching an entire nation's transportation fleet to electric cars without thinking the problem through to the end result, is criminal.
Biden is falling for this electric car thing to pander to and appease his Left wing base. Before mandating that the entire fleet of government vehicles will be electric by a certain date, maybe a little research is in order, to find out how difficult, nigh on impossible, it will be to accomplish.
“The worst of both worlds, But I want one.”
A bada$$ SUV that can embarrass a corvette!
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