Reisender wrote:
SidecarFlip wrote:
BB_TX wrote:
Not pointless. In spite of all the naysayers, electric is coming on a much larger scale.
Not in my lifetime it won't and at the slight chance they did become mainstream, the grid as it now stands won't support electric vehicles for the masses. The grid needs upgraded first before plug in vehicles can become mainstream.
Putting the cart before the horse will result in disaster.
Ford's pulling the train cars is kind of misleading. For one thing all rail cars today ride on roller bearings so it don't take a lot of effort to move them (when the brakes are released) and I'm sure the trackage is perfectly level too. Might even be a bit downhill as advertising like that is usually fixed anyway.
Re the grid not handling it. I think this is more a regional issue. From what I have read from pretty much every poster on this forum as well as various news stories the US grid is more of a 3rd world affair with no hope of ever being upgraded to handle the expected 20 percent increase in capacity to handle the personal vehicle fleet changing to EV over the next few decades. Most utilities in most countries see no issue as it will be a gradual change. I don’t know what the technical issues are in the US but they seem pretty profound. It will be interesting to see how they solve the problem.
Companies like ford need to look ahead and adapt to changing laws that affect their marketplace. More provinces, states, cities, countries, regions will simply outlaw vehicles with any tailpipe emmision so they need to have an alternative market. BC and Quebec already have laws prohibiting the sale of any vehicle with any tail pipe emmision by Jan 1 2040. I think California is close and Washington as well. Europe and China are also going down this path.
China will lead followed by Northern Europe but eventually EV sales will be the majority over the next couple of decades. I don’t think any manufacturer doubts that. A test drive pretty much confirms that.
I won't be here to worry about it. My cousin has a Tesla X and I've driven it. Pretty neat letting the car drive itself.... and it goes like a scalded dog too.
Not for me. I'm an old school suck squeeze bang blow person.
What kind of fries my potatoes is, people 'think' they are being 'green' when they drive an electric vehicle but what they forget is where the power comes from and while renewables are getting greater, the bulk of electricity still comes from fossil fuels and those fuels create emissions.
One thing about solar and wind power, if the wind don't blow, no power. Same with solar, no sunny days, no power and the materials that make up solar panels have to be mined and that creates pollution in itself. Same with wind, Turbine tower are steel, the turbines themselves are made from metal too. That metal is produced in emissions emitting plants. Steel making is dirty, so is aluminum smelting. It's all how you look at it I guess but being 70, again I'm not concerned at all. Won't be here anyway and candidly, I don't want to be.
