Have EVs Reached A Short-Term Peak?

[AWRTR]

Has Biden figured out the new union contracts likely delayed EV emergence by at least a decade? The Big 3 cant pay those wages building exclusively EVs. They will have to go back to ICE maybe with better mileage tech.

The market just isn't there for EV's on a massive scale until the prices come down, and the infrastructure is built out so they can be recharged easily in densely populated areas like LA. Imagine 75% of the cars being EV's in LA right now. Where would people charge them and how would the grid handle it?

 

[Crimson1967]

I’m with everyone else on EVs. They seem like good local cars but not useful for long drives. Maybe one day they will be feasible but perhaps not in my lifetime. (You can see when I was born).

 

[NationalTitles18]

Available Vehicles | Lucid Motors

Buy in-stock Lucid Vehicles. Inventory features pre-configured new models and multi-point inspected pre-owned vehicles that meet our highest standards.

lucidmotors.com

LUCID
Air Grand Touring
Max Power
819 hp
0-60 mph
3.0 sec
EPA-est. range
516 mi
Model Year
2023
Price:
$117,175

Very much a luxury item, but that is always how these things start out.

 

[BamaFlum]

I'm not trying to get into a back an forth, but I used to commute 400 miles round trip in a work day once a week in an EV. It's not impractical, just takes more initial planning than a ICE car. Once you get your system down, it's essentially the same as driving an ICE, plus 10-15 minutes of charging time. EVs can be much less expensive in the long term especially when you consider oil changes, and other types of maintenance that ICE cars require.

And unfortunately for nuclear, until we solve the disposal/storage problem for spent fuel or find a way to commercialize fusion, nuclear energy is never going to be a great long term energy solution. I'm not against nuclear, but nuclear waste is just like coal ash ponds waiting to become a disaster.

As nuclear waste piles up, scientists seek the best long-term storage solutions

Researchers study and model corrosion in the materials proposed for locking away the hazardous waste

cen.acs.org

You need to watch this. Nuclear waste isn’t as scary as the media makes it out.

 

[Jon]

Available Vehicles | Lucid Motors

Buy in-stock Lucid Vehicles. Inventory features pre-configured new models and multi-point inspected pre-owned vehicles that meet our highest standards.

lucidmotors.com

LUCID
Air Grand Touring
Max Power
819 hp
0-60 mph
3.0 sec
EPA-est. range
516 mi
Model Year
2023
Price:
$117,175

Very much a luxury item, but that is always how these things start out.

shame that Lucid is owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Cars are really interesting

 

[NationalTitles18]

shame that Lucid is owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Cars are really interesting

I did not research the ownership, but had wondered.

Surely someone else can replicate, and eventually for much lower prices.

 

[Jon]

I did not research the ownership, but had wondered.

Surely someone else can replicate, and eventually for much lower prices.

i'm curious about the Aptera. $25k 2 seater with a 1000 mile range with enough solar to add 5 miles of range for every hour outside. Would have to cut back a few trees but I could own that and never bother plugging it in

Aptera — Solar Electric Vehicles

Aptera is building hyper-efficient solar electric vehicles that get meaningful range from sunshine alone.

aptera.us

 

[TexasBama]

Buc-ee’s is adding electric vehicle chargers for luxury cars

The beloved convenience store chain based in Texas and rapidly expanding to other states is bolstering its options beyond Tesla.

www.chron.com

 

[NationalTitles18]

i'm curious about the Aptera. $25k 2 seater with a 1000 mile range with enough solar to add 5 miles of range for every hour outside. Would have to cut back a few trees but I could own that and never bother plugging it in

Aptera — Solar Electric Vehicles

Aptera is building hyper-efficient solar electric vehicles that get meaningful range from sunshine alone.

aptera.us

Considering I drive a mile to work, back home for lunch, back to work, and back home on most days and rarely drive over 3 miles one way I'd have to charge quite rarely.

 

[Jon]

Considering I drive a mile to work, back home for home, back to work, and back home on most days and rarely drive over 3 miles one way I'd have to charge quite rarely.

my commute is a flight of stairs. Most of my drives are a run to the grocery store or out to dinner. Most of the time now I am riding my eBike, getting a little exercise and saving the wear and tear on the cars.

 

[crimsonaudio]

If I had any trust whatsoever for Memphis drivers I'd likely give a long look to a nice e-bike, but zero chance i'm riding a bike in traffic where the average IQ appears to be the equal of my shoe size.

 

[Jon]

If I had any trust whatsoever for Memphis drivers I'd likely give a long look to a nice e-bike, but zero chance i'm riding a bike in traffic where the average IQ appears to be the equal of my shoe size.

my town has spent the last 5-6 years building "multi-use paths" which are legally distinct from sidewalks as in GA riding a bike on a sidewalk is illegal. With the paths now I can get to several dozen restaurants, multiple grocery stores, pretty much anywhere I need to go without as much concern. Hopeful that the eBike trend will accelerate this sort of infrastructure.

 

[mdb-tpet]

You need to watch this. Nuclear waste isn’t as scary as the media makes it out.

I'm not saying the sky is falling, nor am I an anti-nuclear person. I'm a pragmatist, and nuclear isn't clean, or simple, or a panacea of energy. It's just another energy source that allows us to do amazing things with yet another nasty byproduct. It is better than coal? Yes. Is nuclear a better energy source than wind, no. Is nuclear better than solar, no again, but nuclear is more reliable, mostly, until the plant has a problem.

Coal ash isn't a real problem either until you get tons and tons of it flowing out of a retention pond into a waterway and you wipe out everything living in the water and eliminate any possible use of the water. Similarly, the main problem with nuclear waste is some of the isotopes don't breakdown for thousands of years, so the more waste created, the bigger of a problem it becomes, creating the potential for big downstream problems. So, you have to store the radioactive waste or put it somewhere the waste will be stable for hundreds to thousands of years. Where is that gonna be, and in what super long term containers?

In your video, they have 3 feet thick containers, filled with Helium to stop corrosion, and these containers have to be in good shape for an incredibly long time, or until we figure out a better way to store the waste. That's not easy, cheap, or a great solution.

And yes, to they guy "kissing" the storage tank, short term small dose radiation doesn't really hurt most anyone, but when you are subjected to radiation day in and day out, then things change. And, he didn't really kiss the waste as I saw.

As nuclear waste piles up, scientists seek the best long-term storage solutions

Researchers study and model corrosion in the materials proposed for locking away the hazardous waste

cen.acs.org

 

[crimsonaudio]

my town has spent the last 5-6 years building "multi-use paths" which are legally distinct from sidewalks as in GA riding a bike on a sidewalk is illegal. With the paths now I can get to several dozen restaurants, multiple grocery stores, pretty much anywhere I need to go without as much concern. Hopeful that the eBike trend will accelerate this sort of infrastructure.

That's awesome.

Even WITH those lanes I doubt I'd use them here. I'm not joking when I suggest the average IQ of some of the folks on the roads around here is incredibly low - many have zero regard for other humans on the roadway.

 

[Bodhisattva]

That's awesome.

Even WITH those lanes I doubt I'd use them here. I'm not joking when I suggest the average IQ of some of the folks on the roads around here is incredibly low - many have zero regard for other humans on the roadway.

I don't know if I'd ever be comfortable biking or jogging close to automobile traffic. As we were preparing to move here four years ago, my wife was put in contact with a CRNA (mentor) at the hospital (Flagler) where she would be working. Just after we completed the move, but before my wife started her new job we heard that her mentor's teenage son was run over and killed. Idiot driver was texting or otherwise not paying attention, drifted off A1A, across the bicycle lane, over the sidewalk, and ran over the kid. By all accounts Zander was a wonderful kid who was in Navy ROTC and dreamed of serving in the military. He was an organ donor, and his kidney saved the life of his best friend's Mom (among others). My wife and I still get choked up when we drive past that bend in the road.

Teen dies after being hit by pickup truck while jogging on A1A

A 16-year-old boy died after he was struck by a pickup truck early Wednesday morning on State Road A1A near Micker's Landing, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

www.news4jax.com

 

[92tide]

my town has spent the last 5-6 years building "multi-use paths" which are legally distinct from sidewalks as in GA riding a bike on a sidewalk is illegal. With the paths now I can get to several dozen restaurants, multiple grocery stores, pretty much anywhere I need to go without as much concern. Hopeful that the eBike trend will accelerate this sort of infrastructure.

i have to ride about 3 miles to get to the beltline, but plans are in the works to get a lot of the southside connected eventually.

 

[92tide]

That's awesome.

Even WITH those lanes I doubt I'd use them here. I'm not joking when I suggest the average IQ of some of the folks on the roads around here is incredibly low - many have zero regard for other humans on the roadway.

much of the new bike infrastructure going in around atlanta is fully separated paths so you are not having to interact with vehicles at all except at certain intersections. we also have a lot of bike “lanes” that are paint striped or have jersey or other type barriers. those, you still have to pay lots of attention, but i am very selective about where i ride on the road

 

[mdb-tpet]

I don't know if I'd ever be comfortable biking or jogging close to automobile traffic. As we were preparing to move here four years ago, my wife was put in contact with a CRNA (mentor) at the hospital (Flagler) where she would be working. Just after we completed the move, but before my wife started her new job we heard that her mentor's teenage son was run over and killed. Idiot driver was texting or otherwise not paying attention, drifted off A1A, across the bicycle lane, over the sidewalk, and ran over the kid. By all accounts Zander was a wonderful kid who was in Navy ROTC and dreamed of serving in the military. He was an organ donor, and his kidney saved the life of his best friend's Mom (among others). My wife and I still get choked up when we drive past that bend in the road.

Teen dies after being hit by pickup truck while jogging on A1A

A 16-year-old boy died after he was struck by a pickup truck early Wednesday morning on State Road A1A near Micker's Landing, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

www.news4jax.com

I'll plug Strong Towns here first. https://www.strongtowns.org/

These types of fatalities will continue to happen until we get serious as a country and reject the speed first automobile transportation network we've allowed to happen over the last 100 years. There are plenty of easy to emulate transportation networks in other countries with far fewer crashes, injuries, and cost than our auto-first system.

But we have to let go of our grip on the steering wheel and make some hard decisions in our cities that allow for far safer walking, biking, jogging, etc. by physically separating cars and people, changing laws to put drivers at fault for crashes, slowing speeds down in cities, charging drivers of cars and trucks for their real cost (not just the highway use tax) etc.

Strong Towns is pushing for a rethinking of our cities from the ground up, and part of that rethinking is designing cities for the people living and walking there, not just car traffic.

 

[92tide]

I'll plug Strong Towns here first. https://www.strongtowns.org/

These types of fatalities will continue to happen until we get serious as a country and reject the speed first automobile transportation network we've allowed to happen over the last 100 years. There are plenty of easy to emulate transportation networks in other countries with far fewer crashes, injuries, and cost than our auto-first system.

But we have to let go of our grip on the steering wheel and make some hard decisions in our cities that allow for far safer walking, biking, jogging, etc. by physically separating cars and people, changing laws to put drivers at fault for crashes, slowing speeds down in cities, charging drivers of cars and trucks for their real cost (not just the highway use tax) etc.

Strong Towns is pushing for a rethinking of our cities from the ground up, and part of that rethinking is designing cities for the people living and walking there, not just car traffic.

our obsession with bigger is better plays a role in it too

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212737005/cars-trucks-pedestrian-deaths-increase-crash-data

American cars and trucks keep getting bigger — and new research suggests that additional height comes at a steep cost to safety.

Vehicles with higher front ends and blunt profiles are 45% more likely to cause fatalities in crashes with pedestrians than smaller cars and trucks, according to new research published Tuesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"We expected those vehicles to indeed create a higher risk of fatality for pedestrians," said David Harkey, the president of IIHS, in an interview. "But I don't know that we had those expectations that the number would be quite that high."

 

[mdb-tpet]

our obsession with bigger is better plays a role in it too

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212737005/cars-trucks-pedestrian-deaths-increase-crash-data

American cars and trucks keep getting bigger — and new research suggests that additional height comes at a steep cost to safety.

Vehicles with higher front ends and blunt profiles are 45% more likely to cause fatalities in crashes with pedestrians than smaller cars and trucks, according to new research published Tuesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"We expected those vehicles to indeed create a higher risk of fatality for pedestrians," said David Harkey, the president of IIHS, in an interview. "But I don't know that we had those expectations that the number would be quite that high."

I call those giant grills "pedestrian killers". The days of pedestrians getting away from a moderate speed collision with an SUV/truck with broken legs/ribs/arms are over.

It's just another part of our culture, where we know what we should do (buy smaller cars, drive slower, drive less), but we do the opposite because it makes us feel more powerful, plus we're marketed to near death by automobile companies. Have you counted how many car commercials there are during football games?