this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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This sums it up pretty well. Battery powered EVs are still a luxury item both financially AND in terms of lifestyle. Most people don't have the finances or the ability to accommodate one, and I think the people who own them forget that as they spout tone deaf positivity about the virtues of owning an electric vehicle. But tbh, I am not even sure what maintenance you're talking about that's such a big deal. You've still got tires, brakes, suspension, and steering components to worry about. All that's missing over the typical <100k mile life of a vehicle are fluid changes every now and then. My understanding is that if you own a Honda, you can do basically nothing but oil changes and tire/brake maintenance and the car will still last forever lol.
This is true. From my perspective, I'm buying time and peace of mind. Not having to bother with oil changes, water pumps, belts, O2 sensors, emissions subsystems, emissions checks, and gas stations with ad-encrusted pumps, amounts to fewer maintenance intervals to track, less mental anguish, and less transactions to fuss about. And I've had rock-solid reliable ICE vehicles before, and still have been routinely burned by sketchy people in the auto industry. I get that things are better compared to even 20 years ago, but I think we can still do better.
Ultimately, I want a tool, not a relationship with a mechanic or dealership. Everything I can do to move the needle in that direction is worth it.
I'll add that I got a corded lawnmower 7 years ago and it's still going strong. No messy oil changes, no clogged air filters, no pulling muscles trying to start the thing, no smelly gasoline stinking up the garage, no last minute runs to the gas station just to do yard work. I just plug it in and get to work. And even with that, I'm looking into getting rid of the grass entirely... somehow.
What a dumb regressive take. Just because you can point out some problems with the solution doesn't mean it's not in the right direction.
Lithium is plentiful on earth. Yes we can't extract it cleanly now, but you know how we get better at that? Higher demand!
Electric cars and batteries are expensive, you know how we fix that? More production so we can leverage economies of scale. More production so that more research investment becomes profitable.
Electric cars can't yet cover all the use cases that ICE can do. That's not actually a problem at all. If we can cover even 75% of all transportation emissions that's a big step.
People having a "hard on for EVs" and paying a little more for a luxury product is exactly what we need to get to the next phase on EVs and to start phasing out ICE for general public transportation. I don't know why it makes you upset, but you can't pretend this isn't part of the solution. You'd have to be blind not to think electric transportation is part of the green future that's going to reduce global warming and keep the earth livable. Sure EVs aren't enough now, but EVs will be and passenger ICE vehicles are NEVER going to be enough EVER.
I'm with you except for the "all we need is more production" point. That's like the city planner who says all we need to solve traffic is one more lane, one more overpass. We are not going to manufacture ourselves out of the climate crisis.
Technology and infrastructure don't work the same. Look at solar panels and electric batteries. Early adopters got expensive low quality products. But these early adopters drove the demand that is making both of these products dozens of times cheaper and more powerful than they were 2 decades ago.
Investment drives progress for young technologies.
I've said before, I'm not interested in personally financing innovation. Perhaps that's selfish, but here we are.
I wouldn't say it's a bad thing. I don't think it's more or less selfish than other climate aware choices like driving a reasonably efficient car into the ground, driving less overall, producing less waste, etc....
Everything you spend money on is what you personally want to see more of in society (because at the very least you want to have it yourself). I don't think it's virtuous to buy into immature technologies per se. I'm just happy there are people right now who are doing it for EVs as early adopters because it means more investment into electric transportation technology.
One day you may buy an electric car, or use electric transportation as your main mode of transport because it will be a mature technology that meets your needs. If you do, it'll be in part thanks to early adopters paying a relative premium at time.