ANSWERS: 7
  • have no idea
  • Actually it's a false dawn. Electric simply means you burn more oil at the power station instead of at the car. Also, the production of electric cars and batteries uses as much oil as making a petrol car. Also, the reliability and power of electric is terrible compared to petrol. If you want to go "sustainable" then get yourself a horse and cart instead.
    • Roaring
      I would like to challenge your assumptions here. First power generation is a variable that is less and less dependent on using fossil fuels. And each each megawatt of clean renewable generation sources go on the grid, the cleaner electricity becomes. Regarding batteries, Tesla in a short period of time with the help of Panasonic has reduced the use of rare metal cobalt and increased efficiency and longevity. With only 17 moving parts, direct drive(no transmission), regenerative braking, zero emissions and the potential for more and more home generated solar, there is no comparison. Lets look at the many layers of fossil fuel use from extraction, processing, storing, distributing and filling stations. Each stage has many impacts and waste factors. Drills and spills, tanker trucks, ice engines that wear out and go out of tune, the full dependency of a liquid fuel that has to be burnt. Once an electric car is owned, as soon as your generating source becomes cleaner, so does your car. If you have your own solar panels, your energy source can be as local as your home. Tesla being primarily an energy company is demonstrating the efficiency and dependability of a modern grid, solar roofs, large scale storage for millisecond response to peak demand, not to mention the number 1 selling mid size sedan in the US is the Tesla Model 3, we have arrived. Now every major car company is scrambling to catch up. The two biggest inertial forces that are pushing back is the fossil fuel dependent market and infrastructure, and the political will of representatives more beholden to that financial infrastructure. 83 thousand Tesla's made, 53 thousand delivered in the 3rd quarter indicates demand for EV's
  • We can't have an all electronic economy because a solar flare could kick up at any time and Destroy every power grid that there is
    • Linda Joy
      He said electric not electronic.
    • Stpauligerle
      Pardon moi. I meant electric.
    • Roaring
      You have a reasonable concern Stpauligerle. the dependency of the new electric cars on electronic circuitry may be vulnerable to such a flare, assuming a massive flare. Still very revved about all electrics and their efficiency and cleanness. Brilliant engineers like Elon will figure it out as Voyager 1 was built in 1977 and has travelled out of our solar system well beyond its expected life. (In space there is no buffer to radiation)
    • Roaring
      BTW SPG that used to be my favorite beer : )
  • You are aware that 63.5% of our electricity comes from fossil fuels, right? https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
    • Stpauligerle
      No I was not. So there's no electricity in getting the fossil fuels to humans correct because then we'd be okay right
    • Linda Joy
      My answer was directed at Roaring, the one who asked the question. I'm not sure where you live and only googled info for the US. I'm not concerned with solar storms or a loss of electricity or electronic devices. I've survived it all before. I have board games, cards, flashlights, candles, battery operated radio and clock and crochet. I'll survive. Oh and a solar powered camping shower!
    • Stpauligerle
      I apologize for stumbling onto my misdirection when you were speaking.
    • Roaring
      Then today given that percentage,, an all electric car would be 36.5% cleaner when charged from the grid. If you have solar on your home even cleaner. Within this decade there will be vehicles that will have a 1 million mile lifespan (or more) given the best engineers put their best designs into production. Update: Every serious car company is developing all electric models as they most all have seen their I.C.E sales drop
  • This shift started in earnest around 2009 or 2010, with a boom in wind farms. In spite of all of the wind and solar and whatever else, though, fossil fuels are still the cheapest energy resource available, and the grid is very slow to update at the fundamental level. It's a complicated topic and your question is open to many different interpretations. If you are talking about electric carts and trucks, that revolution is underway right now. I have an electric car, and I'm a lower-middle-class American. People like me can buy a Chevy, Ford, or Nissan EV for about the price of a regular petroleum-powered vehicle. The 2020 model year will have more options. Furthermore, self-driving cars are in production as we peak to start selling in 2020. These two emerging technologies will change our infrastructure, but I doubt that they will supplant the existing infrastructure completely during my lifetime.
  • It won't happen in my great-grandchildren's lifetime. Solar, wind & hydro are insanely inefficient compared to fossil fuels. It's not even something to worry about at this point.
  • Since I asked this question a couple of years ago the ev economy is growing even in the time of covid. Just for fun I bought 2 shares of Tesla July of 2019 at $224 each. Because of stock split I have 10 shares now valued in todays market at $850 each. Seems my research is paying off.

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