Feds Say Just One Car Out of 100 Will Be Electric in 2040 | Autopia | Wired.com Rocinante, for public school dropouts, was Don Quixote's horse. Like that roving knight, we may be dreamy, idealistic, and smug tilters at windmills. Happy New Year
When I bought my (first) Prius 1 in 1400 cars in Mississippi was a Prius. However, it does not matter if the Prius was not chosen by those other drivers, it was the right car for me. It is not really important if it is chosen by 1 in 100, 1 in 1000, or even 1 n 10. Is it the right car for YOU? Sadly, Until the Tesla 280 mile range minivan that is not even a twinkle in Elon Musk's eye is available cheaply, The Prus v looks like my best bet.
...oh man, luv Man of La Mancha. I feel a new song comin' on (wrote 3 tunes for Prius Chat this year!). Let's see- To dream the impossible dream...(bisco already started it).. On a more technical note, some other blogs I follow, have been very critical of the recent EIA energy forecasts (and this blogger worked almost 20-yrs for EIA): Blue Virginia:: EIA Renewable Energy Forecast Isn't Just Wrong, It's Wildly, Laughably Too Low Not to say I agree with the above blogger, in fact I question some of his data. But there is a huge dis-connect between the some environmentalists (who I use Al Gore as example and he basically says global ban of fossil fuels is near at hand) and these more "status quo" forecasts by EIA, oil industry, Warren Buffet investment strategy, etc...
Carmakers keep making EVs with worthless 70 mile range. Even though a Lithium battery holds ~4 times more energy than the old Lead-acid batteries, and 2 time the NiCad batteries, the EVs still have no longer range than they had in 1999. It makes no sense.
The Feds are assuming the gas/diesel prices will stay competitively priced...with electricity, that is is the price of electricity is likely to rise along with gas/diesel so BEVs won't have much of advantage. In the 1990s, many experts were saying that hybrid would be a transition technology that wouldn't last more than 15 years. It was that kind of talk that made me sit on the fence when first hybrids were introduced. About 2008, I realize the *experts* were wrong and that hybrid tech was likely to be viable until 2050 and I would likely be dead or unable to drive before BEVs becomes the dominant standard. Until the overall global job market improves dramatically - I doubt the overall global economy will fully recover from the Great Recession. My guess is that the world will see an overall weak global economy for several decades which will keep a lid on gas/diesel/oil prices. I'm sort of a friend of Windmills...I get my electricity from wind turbines via Clean Current. Alas ... If I had a Plug-in or a BEV then it would be getting its electricity from Windmills.