Monday, January 07, 2019

The Electric Car "Future"?

Recently, a local radio-guy declared that 'electric cars are the future' (or some such horsecrap) and that is that!!  End of discussion. 

Well, maybe, and maybe not.  Aside from the current *cough* incapacity of the electric distribution system--which can NOT handle the amperage required to overnight-charge every car on the block--there's the price of the cars in the first place (very high), and then there's the "city mouse/country mouse" disparity:  where the city mouse may be very content with 300 miles/charge, the country mouse looks at that as a choke-hold distance.

And of course, there's the utter and near-total lack of "filling stations" nationally.

But there's another factor that must be considered.

...It should be pointed out at this point that this frenzy is being driven by China, which is the largest automotive market in the world by far and which will continue to be long into the future, there’s just no getting around that fact. Our wants and needs as North American consumers have been playing second fiddle to the wants and needs of the Chinese auto market for years now, and this phenomenon will only increase going forward. It will affect what we drive, because our choices will become more and more constrained by the dictates of the Chinese market. Does any of this sound good, even on paper? No, not really, and the reality of this could get uglier by the year....

In other words, we're about to find out how the Chinese drive, because that's the way WE will be driving, too. 

Oh, by the way, the linked essay also addresses "self-driving" cars, which may be even stupider than All Electric All the Time.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Agreed to everything.

This self-driving car nonsense really insults my intelligence.