22nd May 2021, 19:03
Electric cars. Don't know. But if the federal government and state and local governments have anything to do with it, we will all be driving one in the future, like it or not. The problem I have is I live in the hot high deserts of southern California and it's electric Edison country here, where their electric rates just keep going up and up with no end in sight. And the Edison corporation owns the rate decision making state utility commission up north in Sacramento, California. I couldn't imagine plugging in my high performance electric car and getting a bigger electric bill than I already have.
23rd May 2021, 08:50
And if electric grid goes down stranded cars. You can buy fuel everywhere. If fuel disappears I will sell cars altogether. Get groceries, packages delivered more. Bus stop 2 blocks away.
23rd May 2021, 13:27
Same here in the UK. They are really, really pushing the electric car. Every advert I see is about electric cars. Rarely see them on the road however. I've seen 2 Tesla's in the last few years here where I live. About 4 or 5 Nissan Leaf's and 1 Honda Insight. With the exception of Tesla (I like the Model S), they don't appeal to me or anyone I know. And are boring and cost a fortune to fix/charge from what I have heard. I doubt they will meet their 2030 target of not selling combustion engine cars. Petrol/diesel cars might not be made beyond that year, but they will still be around for a long time.
Was watching an old car programme, Top Gear I think, on YouTube. A 1980's episode, where they said they would try to stop making petrol/diesel vehicles by the year 2000. Obviously that didn't happen, but they are pushing hard this time.
23rd May 2021, 14:06
Oh yeah, state and local government’s faults for not providing unlimited fossil fuel reserves on the planet. Definitely their fault and not a natural resource issue why the switch to electric in the long-run is mandatory!
24th May 2021, 22:04
Those are some great alternatives and all, but who is going to buy your gas powered cars without the use of fuel, and what if the grid goes down and you can't take an electric powered bus anywhere?
25th May 2021, 22:03
I will fill up at the airport. One of my cars loves it. Or will pay any amount of price increase at the pumps.
26th May 2021, 18:07
Probably the same thing which happened last week in the southeast part of the US when gas stations ran out of fuel. Can happen with gasoline, too. With electric, I don’t think the sun will stop shining, so it has better backup sources to create electricity/charge batteries actually than fossil fuels.
28th May 2021, 00:54
Glad I have 6 cars full of fuel. If one runs empty I drive the others. Life is good.
28th May 2021, 17:18
In a situation like that (with that many cars) you should build a climate controlled garage. Maybe even add an inexpensive lift with the proper ceiling height and voltage. Then with the doors open you can look at your cars and figure out which one to drive on a given day. Good luck!
28th May 2021, 20:59
Uber is expensive compared to public transit. Also, you don’t avoid traffic with Uber but do avoid it with a train or subway. Not at all similar to electric vs fossil fuels.
29th May 2021, 11:13
There have been plenty of power outages, don't count on it that much and don't forget you need hours to top up an EV; imagine during a mass evacuation with all EV lining up at charging stations down the road. And that's perhaps one of the issues with EVs, imagine when there will be 10 or 20 times more EV on the streets, how many public charging stations at each spot will be needed to have 30 or 50 cars charging at same time for 30 min or more? They will need entire parking spots inside rest areas. But my guess is in 10-20 years there will be different energy storage technologies, perhaps different and lighter batteries. That brings the question of resale value for EV cars: there is always a risk of sudden severe depreciation if a new technology will surface.
29th May 2021, 16:17
I agree about the depreciation part. Hard to imagine outdated EV cars ever becoming collectible either. Barring collectibility, I don’t see a reason they’d retain value once a new technology comes out.
In terms of power outages, solar is one off-grid way to charge these. May be attractive to someone living in a very rural area who isn’t close to a gas station & only needs to drive periodically. Even if it charges slowly, that’s OK if it’s not driven often. Maybe once every week or two to go into town.
30th May 2021, 20:17
Comparing Uber to a bus and not a train/subway. Neither of which and a bus are convenient to pick you up where you stand at anytime of the day or night.
22nd May 2021, 08:16
I read on forums that Tesla cars are full of rattles that are difficult to locate. People even post YT videos with these. Just google up "Tesla rattles".