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I want an EV. I'm invested in EV companies. I drool over the being able to have incredible power, low noise, no emissions, incredible wade depths and pretty much unlimited auxillary power.
No matter how I try to justify buying an EV it simply isn't an option for what I do. There simply isn't an answer for me unless it involves using multiple vehicles and being far less efficient at what I do. I also realize that I'm not only in that small percetile, I'm in that 1 in 10k+ area. In 6 weeks I put almost 40k miles on my car driving through rural West Tx, Oklahoma panhandle, Eastern Co and the central/northern plains. Just imagine what that trip would have looked like with an EV vehicle.
I just have to keep looking at the future and waiting. Unfortunately for me, it's going to take a major battery breakthrough before EV is an option. When that happens it is going to make gas power about as competitive as steam engines are now.
If there is any presumption going on, it's likely on your end. While I understand the reactionary comment because of the people that are completely unwilling to make any changes, there are some people that would have to make incredible changes to make an EV work for them. It is up to technology to close that gap.
I work in the auto industry and the EV topic is huge of course. Personally, EVs do not work for me. Charging and Range are big issues. I am in a city and do not have a garage. I have a parking "pad" off a public street. No place to even put a charger.
Another issue is lack of body style options. The trucks and SUVs are coming but not quite here yet. Even so the prices are absurd. For all intents and purposes they are luxury vehicles, and unclear how or when price points will drop into an affordable range for the average household when most households can only afford to buy used vehicles. Even a new ICE vehicle is beyond the reach of most.
There are about 54 million retail sales of new and used vehicles every year, including private party. ~40 million of those are used, for reasons of affordability. Completely unknown how EVs will translate to the used market, depreciation or value retention wise.
I'm also paid to be a realist at work. EVs are NOT Zero Emission. They are Zero "direct" emissions. They do not plug into unicorn butts. The power generated is still in large part generated by fossil fuels, especially in China and Asia. Even as is the grid could not handle everyone in an EV and to expand electricity in the medium term to accommodate mass adoption of EVs implies continued emissions, but they will happen out of sight at a smokestack, so you can feel better about it.
Beyond that everything that goes into an EV or the Solar panels that hopes hang on is non renewable. Finite. Batteries and Solar panels wear out. Rare earth minerals etc. are finite and have limited recyclability and dirty to mine, process and dispose of. If we envision that economies, populations and vehicle ownership will continue to grow, it raises interesting questions about how many years an EV world will buy us. When do we hit supply constraints or just run out of the raw materials? At what point to do we shift to "rare earth mineral" wars instead of oil wars/politics?
To me seems like the reality is going to be EVs having a certain ceiling and being one of a mix of powertrains (incl hybrid variants), unless governments try to tax or regulate you out of ICE/Hybrid altogether, which may happen down the road given the massive investments of Tesla and other automakers in EV technology. If the adoption rate stalls and prices don't come down and return on investment isn't materializing, the bailout for the industry will likely include laws to force you to buy the EV product.
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