Electric fantasies | FerrariChat

Electric fantasies

Discussion in 'General Automotive Discussion' started by boxerman, Jan 3, 2020.

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  1. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Just took a road trip with my daughter and it raises many questions for me about the real viability of electrics.

    I’ll start with. Charging infrastructure. In many cities people park on the street. So parking meters would need to be replaced with charging ports. I can’t imagine how far away we are from that.

    Then while Tesla’s supercharger stations work the reality is with any sort of crowd you could be there a long time before you can even charge. In the case of apple car play rerouting you around traffic you may miss your recharge entirely.
    Gas stations by contrast are both quick and ubiquitous.

    then the big question. How are we going to dispose of/recycle all those batteries. Electrics are green option but if they poison the planet that’s not really a solution. How come no one is talking about this and there are no government regulations that if a manufacturer builds an electric the disposal plans and facility needs to be built in. Surely this is very much in line with green/statal Thinking, so why the silence, it’s not as though one needs a crystal ball to see this will be an issue.

    I can see Europe and China mandating electrics but the USA is far more vast and the car occupies a different role. Currently electrics are fancy comuter cars for wealthy elites.

    if there’s not the political will to raise gas taxes then expensive electrics are going to be tough to mandate, plus you need electric infrastructure.

    seems like In USA there will be more and more electric penetration but I can see it stalling at 15-20% of the market due to economics and environmental issues.
    That means IMO ice is around in USA for a very long time.
     
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  2. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

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    What's the status of charging time? I thought I read here that it takes about 45 min or so. That'd be a major impediment to interstate travel in this area of the country. Just did a 2000 mile trip in our new Cayenne. Fill up in Abilene and it's good to go almost until El Paso, about 450 miles, ca. 800 km away. Can any electric do that?

    There are tech challenges, to be sure, but as a scientist I have faith that those can be solved as long as you're not violating the laws of thermodynamics. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the market place. I fear, though, that the "solution" will be more political than scientific...T
     
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  3. MotorMouth

    MotorMouth Formula 3
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    #3 MotorMouth, Jan 3, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2020
    Well, everyone is saying this, except for the silliness being peddled by the mainstream media and the people that are chugging the CBD infused kool aid, which can make it seem like no one is saying this.

    As far as the on street parking charge. I don’t see that being necessary with the 300 + mile ranges. So unless you have a 150 mile each way commute you charge at home. The bigger problem is the electrical infrastructure can only support a small percentage of EV’s. Not to mention electricity comes from natural gas and coal.
     
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  4. buddyg

    buddyg F1 Veteran
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    The biggest joke of the “GREEN” electric vehicle is the fact that most of them are being charged using electricity generated by Coal burning Plants! LOL
     
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  5. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

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    Untrue. Electricity is generated by unicorn farts!
    Hypothetically, it should be easier to "scrub" fixed CO2 sources as compared to mobile sources, but that technology is not as advanced as it needs to be...T
     
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  6. jjp11

    jjp11 Karting

    Sep 1, 2013
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    I believe the true tech necessary to completely move on from ICE has not been invented/discovered yet. Electric vehicles, at least the way they're designed today, do not appear to be sustainable as a compete ICE takeover of the future.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using FerrariChat.com mobile app
     
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  7. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Actualy we generate a lot of electricity from Nat gas due to fracking, and that is 1/2 the C02 of coal. Even using coal the powerplants get close to 40% efficiency, and transmission losses are minimal. Each mile driven by a coal charged electric car is still probably less c02 than an Ice car.

    but that mises the larger point. urban elitists get to move their transport pollution away from where they live by going to coal powered electric cars, gve hets to make lots more mandates and automakers get a new profit center from the transition. Or so they all hope..
     
  8. buddyg

    buddyg F1 Veteran
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    What about the mining to get the materials for the batteries? Do those machines run on natural gas? What about all these batteries that will have to be disposed off at the end.

    Electric cars are not that much better for the planet than ICE cars.
     
  9. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

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    It's better for the environment to buy a used car or buy new and keep forever than replace a cars every 3 years like a lease regardless if ICE or EV. Super longterm I think running ICE on alcohol made from waste food is better (not from corn grown specifically for alcohol fuel). EV cars go through tires like crazy as they are so heavy and batteries probably need replacing every 10-15 years and that is a lot of messed up chemicals and metals that need to be created.
     
  10. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Battery disposal is a major issue. Amazingly none of the greens or the government geniuses are raising it. I supose like nuclear waste its an issue for the future, ie after we rush headlong into it. Why derail the rainbow with pesky reality.

    I mean C02 is a major legislative money spinner.
     
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  11. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    Battery manufacturing and disposal are issues. Then there is the small matter that we have all the fossil fuels we can use but we have a shortage of electricity. The green approved methods of developing more electricity are a bad joke. Simply put we don't have the power and it is not on the horizon unless we burn fossil fuels to do it. Dumb as it gets.
    Gas/diesel may not be the transportation energy of the future but I don't think electricity is either.
     

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