If you think delivering tech is hard, delivering organized societal change is hundreds, nay thousands of time harder and slower.
Humans in their millions will happily die before they will change.
You’re the one that claimed that a common gasoline fire can be easily handled with a fire extinguisher.
ICE cars get engulfed in flames all the time and if they get going even slightly, are totally out of bounds of a fire extinguisher. I just found that one particular clip funny because the officer was obviously not going to have any effect at all on the fire.
I disagree. We could have changed in my lifetime, born in 1971 near the first gas and smog crisis. They could have made changes that would have influenced gen X, but they didn’t.
That was a choice.
That’s only about 140 miles. A relaxing and quiet trip in my EV. I’d want to spend about 20 minutes charging for the trip back. If I had an EV and an ICE car, I’d make that trip in the EV, every time.
That is encouraging.
You mean, like California is doing?
What HOAs or apartment complexes are planning to ban EVs? I haven’t heard of a single one. I’m actually on the board of my condo complex, and we certainly aren’t planning to ban them. In fact we will approve any car charger a unit wants to install in their garage, as long as it’s done by a licensed electrician.
You have been arguing against EVs this entire thread. That being the case, how do you propose we change society?
Our Association is hard-pressed to do basic maintenance. Finances just aren’t there.
Simply put, if more help to create chargers in the South & Midwest isn’t given, there are likely to be political opportunists who will exploit that for their own ends.
Realistically, a lot of people will have to move to mass transit. Some will move to human-powered transport like bicycles. That’s an adjustment, & perhaps a painful one; but that’s what there is, & it’s not terrible.
What bothers me about this is that electric cars are deathtraps. There is such a thing as too big a lithium-ion battery, where inevitably the thing will catch fire eventually and it will kill you when it does. Tesla batteries are way over that line.
Massive road and parking infrastructure construction worsens quality of life and is economically terrible for cities. Being able to drive anywhere given enough time is worth much less when you’ve paved the places people want to be. And city budgets don’t have an infinite money tree for parking and road maintenance.
That said, the future for exurbanites is probably still fuel-cell tech. I don’t trust lithium batteries that are bigger than I am.
I imagine that when EVs are more common, having charging abilities would be a plus for someone renting out apartments.
Just utter tripe. Where do people get this nonsense?
Electric cars are very safe, in large part due to their low center of gravity. It’s very difficult to roll over a Tesla or really any EV with a skateboard architecture (almost all of them).
Yes, yes. And people have been pushing for changes to improve public transit and such and almost nothing has happened.
It’s too late to engage in wishful thinking about society-level changes. Gen X environmentalists have been hoping to dismantle car culture and suburbia and free travel and other things for as long as I’ve been alive, and none of that has come to pass. Quite the opposite.
Since cars are here to stay, we need to make them sustainable. That means EVs (and end-to-end recycling of their components).
I’m sure you don’t. It’s a view that’s divorced from reality, though.
Or a job perq. At Mrs Cad’s last job there were 4 EV charging stations for thousands of employees and the same early arrivers would park there all day. Even with a small percent of EV drivers most could never charge at work.
Yes, we have two covered parking spaces in front of my building.
Yes. People are wasting less energy. And water, etc-
LED bulbs, working from home, etc.
Energy Efficiency.
California has led the nation in energy efficiency programs since the 1970s. Due to the state’s efficiency programs, per capita energy use has remained flat, while the rest of the US has increased by about 33 percent. Energy efficiency activities between 2010 and 2012 resulted in enough energy savings to power nearly 800,000 homes for a year and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 5.3 million tons, the equivalent of removing more than 1 million cars from California’s roads.
So- is it saving the world? No, But it is helping a little.
Not at all, and less than gas cars.
Are Gasoline-Powered Cars Safer Than Electric Cars?.
HOW ARE ELECTRIC CARS SAFER THAN GAS CARS?
Based on recent reports, electric cars do appear to be safer or at least just as safe as regular gas vehicles. But what exactly is it about electric car safety that makes them so safe?
** Fewer fires and explosions: Are the batteries in electric cars safe? Despite recent recalls for lithium-ion batteries found in electric cars, the risk of an explosion or fire due to these batteries is exaggerated. EVs actually have a lower risk of fire compared to gas cars because they are designed with insulated high-voltage lines and safety features that deactivate the electrical system when a collision is detected.*
There are many economic, ecological, and practical advantages of switching to an electric vehicle. You’ll save money in “fueling” and maintenance costs, reduce your environmental impact and carbon footprint, and one major benefit that can’t be ignored is that EVs may also be considered safer than traditional gas-powered cars. Reasons for this include vehicle age, EV-only safety features, and weight distribution advantages.
### Reasons Electric Cars May Be Safer
All things considered, are EVs safer than gas cars? Let’s look at safety factors for EVs versus cars with internal combustion engines (ICEs):… Fire risk. Fire-related EV recalls have attracted mass media attention, but gasoline-powered vehicles are subject to more recalls for fire-related concerns than EVs. While any vehicle can catch fire, the risk for EVs is far lower. Gas is volatile and flammable and a damaged gas tank can turn a simple collision into a deadly accident. A study showed 1,530 ICE-powered cars were involved in fires per 100,000 sold, whereas EVs had 25 fires per 100,000 sold.
That’s different. Swapping incandescents with LEDs is a technological solution, not a social one. It doesn’t require telling people that they need to work in the dark or sleep when the sun goes down. While there have been some laws and other incentives that helped things along, LEDs would have been adopted eventually due to lower costs (especially by businesses).
Other efficiency gains are similar. When consumers save money at little inconvenience to themselves, they’re generally amenable to doing so. Getting people to run their dishwashers and clothes dryers at night is not that hard. Telling people to wash their dishes by hand and air dry their clothes is not going to happen. And again, incentives (like variable electricity pricing) can help here. But getting people to completely revamp how they live and that they’ll have to give up their luxuries does not work.
Working from home has been a significant social change, but was entirely driven by COVID. Wouldn’t have happened without some driving force.
I live in a condo complex with lots of EVs. This is what our HOA does. Owner pays for installation. In fact, one of our (many) neighbors with Teslas parks next to us and has a charger next to his car.