Cost of converting entire U.S. to Electric Cars - Zero

We will need more electrical capacity, so need to factor that in.

 

• So the suggestion is to arrange to borrow $4 trillion at a permanent 5% for the conversion and pay $400 million in interest forever? It seems that the $4 trillion ought to be paid off eventually and that that should be reflected in the cost to convert.

 

Does not address the fact that many people have no way to plug in a car. If you live in a apartment or condo or otherwise park your car in a large garage, parking lot or on the street because there is no personal driveway/garage at your home, there's no place to plug the car in. So there is the infrastructure cost of installing outlets for every parking space in every residential garage/lot, plus installing them on city streets where parking is legal, with a mechanism for charging the driver for the electricity.

 

im all for it... we spend a trillion on fuel this year, it will be more next year, two trillion in about 3 years probably....

the conversion cost only happens once. after that we could bank a trillion a year... that would build a few power plants using wind, solar, etc...

we wont do it... but im still all for it.

 

Fix: require every employer and business to install recharge outlets in their parking lots as a condition of keeping the tax deduction they get for parking spaces.

 

If it makes economic sense on a macro scale, it ought to at least be close on the micro scale. It's not. So there must be some hedging going on. But I'm too lazy to figure it out. One thing: the resale value of our current cars is fantasy, even if one doesn't count market saturation and distribution costs.

 

...and besides, wouldn't the green thing be to just crush and recycle the old cars rather than foist them on the 3rd world? tsk tsk

 

Surely doing this defeats the whole object as we would still need to produce fuel to power these vehichles?

I reckon of we simply outlaw SUVs and allowpickup trucks only with special, business related licenses, we could half the environmental impact of driving in a day or 2?

 

Who pays these costs? The author says, "We pay $xxx per year for oil". That means the American consumer, not the government. This article implies, then, that every American should take out a loan to buy a $20,000 car and somehow sell their current car to Honduras? Seems to me like there are many Americans who can't afford a $20,000 car, and whose current car is definitely not worth $5,000.

I guess the point of the article is that it's theoretically possible to do this (i.e. a slow phase out where electric vehicles are sold instead of conventional cars, as opposed to an immediate switch from one to the other).

However, he doesn't even attempt to address the unrecharged range issues that currently limit electric cars. Can this just magically get fixed right away? Costs to re-tool every car manufacturer to produce millions of electric vehicles?

Seems to me like you can make any idea seem rational if you simply ignore all the possible complications and consequences.

 

What does that do for parking at home?

Lots of people take mass transit to work and use their cars only for non-work purposes.

 

I understand that Toyota intends to produce 1 million NiMH batteries per year (for Prius etc.) before transitioning to Li ion. If they can grow to that number I will be very amazed. Though they have certainly suprised me in the past.

The problem is that we nobody no-how can make big rechargeable batteries by the multi-millions, whether for HEVs, PHEV or pure EV. At least not without several years of creating manufacturing capacity first.

In the near term electric and electric-assist vehicles are going to remain small market share. Even so they will put a dent in fleet fuel consumption. But, we need to make a bigger dent. Therefore, all technlogies with promise in this direction ought to be vigorously pursued at the same time. Improved efficiency gasoline vehicles, diesel, flex fuel, biodiesel, urban mass transit improvements, hypermiling in whatever you've got, pick your own favorite.

Maybe even hydrogen fueling, if that's your cup of tea. But make no mistake it is a very big tent and it desperately needs filling. Neither hybrids or any other technology can go it alone.

 

I'm trying to think of what we didn't make by huge volumes out of nowhere for WWII production-Aircraft engines, Liberty ships, Vast numbers of Radars, etc. I'm pretty sure the capability is there, just not the serious motivation other than pure profit.

 

OK then, the industry may be capable, but the will remains weak. What to do?

I have been really impressed by the electric scooters here in China. Sure, people aspire for cars (and the streets are filling up with them), but a very large proportion of daily urban people moving is by scooters. Each one has about 10 kilos of lead (in batteries) and a pretty-easy-to make electric motor.

There is a global need for small urban transport. It is far easier for me to imagine 10 million + of such units getting built on short order than real-sized cars with much bigger batteries and electric motors. They could supplement the car fleet for local use, rather than replace it.

Again, we need to do it all, but some of the fruit is hanging much lower on the tree ...

 

Here's the difference: in WWII we already had the technology to make those things. Right now the technology to make useful, affordable lithium-ion batteries is not yet mature enough to go into mass production.

 

sadly.. no one seems to be mentioning the national security risk we've created by becoming so dependanty on a resource we don't have enough of.. talk about cost.

 

With off peak charging? don't think so ~ and don't forget, it takes less power to run your electric oven, or your 4ton central AC compressor ... so again, don't believe it. That's what Shevron would want you to believe. Just TRY and follow through w/ an all EV economy, if you want to watch the spin from the oilies.

Don't forget, there's electric power SAVED, in not running 100's of millions of ICE cars. Less refinery electricity, less gas station electricity, less oil being electricly pumped etc. The article doesn't let those aspects wash favorably.

 

No, not true. Let me give some examples:
1) The British showed the cavity magnetron to the Americans in Sep. 1940. Nothing like it existed in the USA, nor any means to produce them in volume due to their bizarre machining requirements. Originally it was machined at an insignificant production rate by Western Electric. Fortunately, Raytheon figured out how to make them in ultra high volume by developing a precision plate metal stamp. They then stamped out slices by the millions. They then stack and oven solder the stamps together.
2) Liberty ships were made using assembly line production techniques that had never been used in shipbuilding before. To do this the ships had to have a modular design for them to be fully built up in sections. The ship was designed in 1940 and production was 3 a day by 1943.
3) If you go to the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum. Look at the engines in use at the beginning of the war, and the engines in use two years later. It's like looking at a Model T and a Prius.