ICE epitaph

These forces, and more, are already driving a large portion of the younger generation to forego the expense and constraints of personal car ownership altogether. Between rideshares (Uber, Lyft, etc.), improving mass transit, car share services (Zipcar, Car2Go. etc.), and even bicycle sharing services (LimeBike, Spin, Ofo, ...), an increasing number of people are getting by without owning a car at all.

With this significant shift away from personal cars, the urban apartment dwellers without convenient home recharging will produce little impediment to the widespread rollout of plug-in electric cars for others who still buy cars.

 

These stations weren't there when gasoline cars started rolling out. Consumer demand caused private business to step up and build them, without public financing.

The basic electric distribution system is already in place, and is continually being expanded and upgraded, funded in the end by the electric cunsumers. Load scheduling will become more important to fit the demand into the distribution capacity, but that is already being addressed.

For the local electric lines through parking lots, those will be funded by the electric service stations themselves, just as gasoline pumps and underground storage tanks are now funded by the gasoline service stations. Who in turn pass it on to the consumers in their retail markup.

 

methinks starship is playing devils advocate, hates ev's, or has been living under a rock.

 

Young people were delaying getting a car a few years ago, but the numbers of car ownership is back up to 2008 and 2009 levels. There have been a lot of sales the past few years.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20180123/MOBILITY/180129900/car-ownership-rises-michigan-study

Just want to add that the federal government is still paying for rural electric infrastructure in the Farm Bills. Like postal service, utilities wouldn't go everywhere if left to just the private sector.

Or a Tesla shorter.

 

While the feds subsidized the roads to those areas, I don't recall them subsidizing the gasoline distribution there.

Thanks to REA (I grew up in that zone, dad is still there), the electric service is already out there. Now that people are headed towards electric cars, the increased loads should help boost rural utility revenues and reduce the federal subsidies needed to keep their electric services going.

 

Well, gasoline was already available as a general degreaser/solvent cleaner back then. If the local store didn't have a pump, you could get it by the can.

Plug ins might reduce the need for might subsidies, and it could also boost local renewable electric generation(biomass and biomethane in addition to solar and wind). I'm not against such use of government funds, just wanted to point out many endeavors aren't simply government or private but joint between the two.

 

@ the Forbs article.....
Meh.
When I was a kid, I read once upon a time that propeller driven aircraft were going to be as antiquated as cars with hand cranks.
BEVs are developing with great rapidity, but I wouldn't order the tombstone for the ICE juuuuust yet.
The article itself is flawed at the very least.....(resale values, reliability, etc...) but the ICE fanboys have their ambassadors too.

@ California....
Yup.....they're #5.
HOWEVER...(comma!) they should take a lesson from Sears and Roebuck, who used to be one of the largest companies in the world - certainly one with among the highest number of employees.
Somebody want to tell the class what killed Sears?
(Hint: if you think it was online shopping, then you may want to dig a little deeper.....)

That's about as far as I can go .
I hear the ice cracking under my feet, and we all know how thin people's skin is these days.

Newsome IS going to be governor.
Good luck with that 100-percent renewable energy thing!

 

Personally, I think the article is great & sets a hopeful tone.

However, I think that there are still far too many people in the USA (world?) that don't want to switch..even if would make economic sense to do so. Politics, perception, etc...also come into play here when you talk about EV's.

 

So does Star Trek.....

.....I just don't think of it as a documentary.
As far as EVs are concerned....when there is an EV tax, and they stop all of the kickbacks than you will know that they are close to economic viability.....until then......well there's Star Trek.

 

^^
This is the most accurate post I've ever seen on PriusChat.

 

Is this dude for real? I'm not sure if I'm on PriusChat or reading an article on MSNBC or CNN.

 

It is already starting. In the future many places will be able to isolate themselves from grid collapse.

From regional level to the household level with battery back up storage on site coupled with renewable energy, a grid outage will not be any more catastrophic than natural disasters and the difficulty of procuring gasoline now.

 

By the time this wishlist is actual reality and as common as gas stations are now we'll all be dead. I'd venture to say my grandaughter will be in her final years and we'll still not fully be there.

 

Hopefully most people are still alive in 20 years.

 

california politicians have done a great job growing the economy through public policy

 

We'll see.
I prefer redwood tree kinda growth rate rather than the kudzu kind, and the Caly has one Ginormous pile of unfunded pension liabilities...

It's like having $250 at the end of the month and calling yourself "economically successful" despite a $250,000 student loan and $100,000 in credit card debt.
BUT....if that's a good way to run a car company, then I guess that's a good way to run a state government.
Dang good thing they can't print money...

#toobigtosave

Interest rates are not going to stay low forever......

Curse you Bisco!
You're trying to get me red carded AND you forced me to use a soccer metaphor.....