Electric Vehicles

[Mag6240]

1 hour ago, Deephaven said:

Actually it gets better than it did stock on the highway at 60.  The snowmobile trailer fucks it up real bad though.  Floats around 10 towing which is way worse than when towing the Malibu or Ranger with it

 

And I’ll bet you could give two shits about mpg with all those goodies on it… sounds fun!  A buddy just picked up a 2017 with 70k miles for $30k, never had a ball in the hitch, driven by some execs wife.

[Deephaven]

Work pays for all my gas regardless of what I do so I don't care anyways....

[XCR1250]

Your turn: Electric vehicles are not ready for prime time

 

Jim Sacia

Sat, May 13, 2023 at 12:00 PM CDT

 

 

Mark Mills, senior fellow at The Manhattan Institute, shares some eye-opening realities dealing with wind and solar.

He contradicts many, including our own current administration, who believe whole heartedly that it is our future.

There are some Mark Mills haters and critics. Do your own research before you buy into their hatred and criticism.

I am far more in Mr. Mills camp than the current administration’s camp. Certainly not a scientist, but arguably an educated observer, I cringe with every commercial, and there are many, pushing electric vehicles.

The infrastructure necessary to support these vehicles isn’t even close to meeting the demand.

 

Hybrids make sense to me. They can sustain themselves with their back up on board gasoline. I am writing this in Utah, where Jenny and I are vacationing. We are driving a Prius Hybrid getting 51 mpg. It almost makes me ashamed to go back home to my 16 mpg pickup.

We cannot build enough solar and wind machines to supply us 24-7. There is no electric utopia just over the horizon. It doesn’t exist and it never will.

Simple physics reveals that the sun’s photons can be converted to electrons at 33%. Our best conversion rate currently is 26% efficiency. For wind, the maximum capture is 60% efficiency, we currently are at 45%. Remember also that the sun must shine and the wind must blow.

Oh, you say, but batteries can store the energy.

The world’s largest battery factory, owned by Tesla in Nevada, would take 500 years to build enough batteries for just one day’s supply of America’s electricity needs. This should help explain why after 20 years and billions of dollars in subsidies, we are at only 3% of meeting our energy needs with wind and solar.

To me, what is truly perplexing, is how our major manufacturing companies have charged all out to become totally electric. Ford’s new electric vehicle plant in Tennessee is the best example.

This very morning, watching the news in Utah, a new Ford F150 electric pickup caught fire at its manufacturingplant, destroying it and two beside it, due to a battery fire. Fighting these battery fires is a significant challenge for fire departments.

One electric car battery weighs approximately one half ton. The elements required to build that battery will require massive new mining efforts in areas that we need to protect for obvious environmental reasons.

EV owners love to tell us that they are zero emission. Not even close! If you consider the production cost, especially the 1000 lb. battery, over the life of the vehicle, the cost of charging the battery over its lifetime may exceed the life time expense of a gas powered car.

The waste obtained from worn out batteries, solar panels and wind turbines will be astronomical.

Maybe we should consider hydro carbons which are in abundant supply and readily available. This is the basis for all of our current needs and will supply us well into the future. They are becoming cleaner all the time.

Oh, you say that we must clean up our environment. If you study your lesson you will realize that the requirements for wind and solar production and electric vehicles on the massive scale necessary to meet our needs, which they never can, will create an environmental nightmare that is nearly unimaginable.

Experts tell us it will require mining for such elements as cobalt and lithium up to 2000% increase and in many parts of the world that cannot be accessed. Why aren’t our policy makers studying this before they tell us how “electric” we will be by 2032?

For those who choose to believe that electric vehicles are the wave of the future and far more environmentally friendly, when you look at the big picture you will be greatly disappointed.

Jim Sacia is a Pectonica resident. He served as an Illinois state representative from January 2003 to September 2013.

[awful knawful]

[spin_dry]

EV’s will max out at about 30-35% of the vehicles on the road. That’ll lay down some great diversity for fueling America’s transportation needs. 

[pjameven]

5 minutes ago, spin_dry said:

EV’s will max out at about 30-35% of the vehicles on the road. That’ll lay down some great diversity for fueling America’s transportation needs. 

I think you are spot on....