..get an electric car. the day of gasoline is coming to an end
I have a Tesla S LR that I bought because I freaking wanted one. As a retired engineer, the thought of driving a battery car was too much for me to resist. Plus, I could afford it. I love every thing about this car. It's lightning fast, it's quiet, I haven't been to a gas station or oil change place in three years, and the only maintenance its required is a cabin air filter, which I haven't bothered with. I'll need tires soon..
But the problem with EVs is that they're expensive, right now they're complicated (that will change), not everyone has a garage they can park in and charge, and the electrical infrastructure is fragmented in capability.
Asking someone to just go buy an EV is being ridiculous right now. EVs will replace ICE cars in about 20 years, but trying to force people to adapt by killing the gas industry with mandates with
no real replacement solution ready to go is shortsighted and, frankly, stupid. I love my Tesla, but it's NOT a solution to replace gas cars. Not now, not yet.
My home uses oil heat (oil, propane, or electric the only options). All three are expensive and while I used to fill my oil tank for $400 twice a season, it will now cost $1200 per tank, or $2400 per year. Fortunately, that kind of money won't affect my lifestyle, but Biden's energy "plan" is going to hurt people badly. Add to that the cost of gas and food, and a LOT of people are going to be in a world of hurt.
Have money in a 401? Expect it to tank by next spring when a full blown recession is raging.
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JosephQCat (706)
2 years ago
Thank you for your well thought out response even if an EV would not be a consideration for me. I think the chit will hit the fan by fall versus next year. Baby boomers if not already soon will be net drawers of their investments leaving no place to go but down for the markets. The market is not sustainable in the 30K plus range when most of the contributors today are making far less than someone whose career happened before today.
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strntz (11315)
2 years ago
I don't disagree. I think the ramp up will begin in earnest in the fall yes, but I think by late winter there will be a lot of misery in this country.
Look, everyone agrees that in the 21st century, burning fossil fuels at the rate we are is ridiculous. But trying to foment change by pulling out the rug without knowing what's beneath it is where I diverge from the left's plan. If the left wanted to spend tax money to advance alternative energy sources like Trump did with the covid research, I think many if not most conservatives would not be against it, but throwing out the firewood with nothing else to burn in the fireplace doesn't help anyone.
Sorry if I digressed a bit.
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bjensen4 (1281)
2 years ago
Having a Tesla in Montana is like having a space station at the bottom of the ocean..useless.
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strntz (11315)
2 years ago
If you don't have a home with a garage, then a Tesla is not for you.
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bjensen4 (1281)
2 years ago
Doesn't matter if you have a home with a garage or not in Montana, once you leave Billings you're hosed as there's nowhere else to charge your Tesla.
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strntz (11315)
2 years ago
According to an EV charging map, there are dozens of charging stations across Montana (a Tesla can charge at any generic charger in addition to Tesla Superchargers). Of course, charging stations will expand with EV sales. Most shopping centers will add them soon if they already haven't, and of course, you can charge anywhere there's a standard AC outlet although a 120V/15A outlet will take a long time to charge. The place where my son works installed charging ports and offers free charging for employees (for now), but they are a Ford supplier.
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CraigC (7424)
2 years ago
"EVs will replace ICE cars in about 20 years"
I seriously doubt it. Maybe, just maybe in the largest cities. There are people who've never owned a new car in their lives. Does the person that goes from one $2000 beater to another get a free EV?
There's also no way the power grid could support it in 20yrs. Let's look at two facets to keep it simple. Copper. How much copper has to be mined to not only provide the electronics and wiring for these over-complicated monstrosities but also to upgrade homes and the power grid? What's the foot print for that? More power means more power plants. Right now most power plants burn fossil fuels.
What happens to the equity you have in your existing vehicle? If you trade your gas/diesel for an electric, someone else is going to buy it, right? What about recycling all those old vehicles?
What about the mining of all those rare earth metals to make the batteries for millions upon millions of EV's? Not to mention eventually recycling them.
The US could spend trillions getting on the EV bandwagon, whole hog. We are not the world's biggest polluter. How long before China and India go electric? 100yrs? Ever?
These are the things I think about when people wax poetic about EV's. As if it can happen with just a little effort and expense. No, it's huge to the point of being unimaginable. Also unimaginably expensive. Yeah, we need to do something but we have been doing something. Something like the green new deal is going to send us back to the dark ages.
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Darren (1197)
2 years ago
A far better prospect for widespread zero-emissions vehicles, I think, would be liquid hydrogen-fueled cars. The exhaust is water vapor, and it's easy to design an engine to burn hydrogen as fuel. The chief hangup is the cost of electrolyzing hydrogen from water, because it takes more energy to do that than what you get from burning the hydrogen resulting from the process. Of course, that issue would be tolerable perhaps, if we generated the electricity from nuclear power.
But the gaia-worshipping econazis aren't truly series about effectively combating climate change, and doing the things that are economically feasible, and necessary to maintain our civilization. They're just anti-technology luddites who oppose anything that's not wind and solar.
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