- Joined
- Nov 3, 2003
- Messages
- 47,737
My Problem with this "electric car" thing is don't people understand that the electric has to be generated somewhere??????
Generating electric, Takes energy, Pushing it across wires to your location, there is loss in transmission, then plug in your car, Batteries that have heavy metal and acids need to be made, and then at end of life disposed. Also batteries lose energy by just sitting then add all that weight to a car. Boy to me that sounds really efficient! Hug your trees!
My neighbor just took me for a ride in his new Tesla.
After the ride he took it home and plugged it into the power being supplied by one of our coal fired power plants here in Utah,
My point exactly! Emissions are coming from a tailpipe or a smokestack!
You've got all valid points, to a point. But it's not the same for everyone everywhere. Just like most other things.
Here in CA electric cars of one form or another are quite popular, and work very well for those that use them. You don't see pure electrics much among the long-range commuters (75 miles each way type), but among the locals that have just a few miles to commute, their company has charging spaces, and that have a gas vehicle to do all the other duties, they make total sense.
That's because here we don't use coal for electricity. I actually thought we still had three or four coal-fired plants, but could not find them on the map, so maybe they're now just for backup?
A full 16% of our electricity is generated by wind and solar now. A larger chunk is hydro with some nuclear thrown in, with the bulk still being natural gas I believe. Might be wrong on the percentages, but it's very little, to no coal anymore.
So we still burn something to get much of our juice, but it's generally considered "cleaner" than other type of burn-generating.
And that does not take into account the fact that a high percentage of electric car owners charge them on their own roof-top solar setup now too.
It's essentially free to charge. And if I'm not mistaken, at least some of the public, and most of the private charging spaces in parking lots are free of charge still too.
A Tesla owner gets free charges for a time at all the SuperCharger stations across the country. You can haul ass to your next pee break and not pay a dime to "fill up" on your trip from here to there.
Sure, it's not as fast a pitstop as gas is, but hey, if you've got the time, stretch your legs a bit and enjoy the view. And talking to others doing the same thing. Maybe trade sandwiches out of the lunch pail your mom for the trip made as a way of making new friends.
And that doesn't even touch on the fact that for some, the HOV lane get-out-of-jail-free decal is worth the price of admission.
Lots of people don't like that subsidy either, but a lot of people are able to take advantage of it on their commute.
Wow that took long time for coal to show up and what about nuke power. Whats getting destroy to make new car parts , lots of parts are made offshore no rules there . Have no good answers just hanging on to my my old cars as long as i can .
Me too. I've always felt that, as good as new cars are (and they're VERY good!) something is getting dug up, processed, synthesized, plundered or generally used up to make them. I think we're all doing our part to conserve just by keeping our old trucks.
Even those of us that do have newer vehicles are doing something by keeping the old up and running in good shape. Often better than original.
But in reality, it's not my car I'm worried about. It's the car behind me on the interstate that's registered in Tennessee that is going 75 with the cords showing on their tires brake pads down to the metal, digging into the rotors with a shower curtain duct taped to the door for a window. That's who I'm worried about.
Really don't know what that has to do with the current discussion, but thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
I think it fits right in some how, some way! Thumbs up!
It's how I felt when they started allowing big rigs from Mexico over the border without, I believe, having to meet the standard requirements for safety and emissions that we're all required to meet. Was it NAFTA that did that? I don't remember, but I remember being pretty PO'd because someone who didn't think regulations were good for business thought we could get more cheap goods from south of the border if our trading partners didn't have to meet the same onerous requirements.
And that definitely fits into this discussion of government requirements and dictates and dam regulations.
But hey, I do love my Mexican Coke!
So what do I care if they have some unsafe, smokin' Joe trucks on the road. Doesn't effect me behind my computer and I'll just avoid highways when there are accidents.
Stay home and drink my Coke.
Paul