There is a way out for the combustion engine - biofuels.
Formula 1 plans to transition to these and become carbon neutral by 2030 and they are hoping to be a pathfinder for the general automobile industry. Cars that run on these fuels could be greener than electric cars because of battery manufacturing.
Is there any data about electricity prices hikes in Ontario being caused by renewables (as opposed to, say, increasing demand) ? It’s been my impression that, in the U.S. at least, utilities are adding solar and wind installations because it makes economic sense compared to fossil fuels.
Unlikely. We’d have to convert way too much farm land to growing the biofuels. We’re already doing too much of that for ethanol that is put into gasoline.
We can probably do it more efficiently than our current method of using corn.
But it wouldn’t replace the needs for daily drivers.
There will always be a few niches where EV’s will have trouble filling, and a combustible liquid will be the way to go. That’s where biofuels can fill in.
Anyone up on the status of algal based biofuels? Had been big on upcoming things circuit a bit back but I don’t hear about it much anymore.
Canadian here. I own a Ford f150 that i drive ~8,000km a year and a new Nissan Kicks that I just bought when my Hyundai Elantra engine went after only 144,000 km (we put ~18,000km a year on this vehice).
I looked ta electric, but anything with the cargo capacity me and my wife were looking for was $15k+ over the price of our Kicks.
However if someone was to manufacture a small EV (2 seater with enough storage area for groceries) with a 150-200km range for $9,999 CAN I’d buy one in an instant. And I think they’d sell MILLIONS of these for commuter cars.
The vast majority of our driving is in the city and the above EV specs would be perfect and we’d probably cut use of our ICE vehicles by about 80%.
MtM
While there are ways to do biofuel right, a lot of what is out there is not so clean, we’ll see if F1 will use the better ones.
Another thing to take into account is that all F1 cars are hybrids, and have been for a while.
The point here is that besides there being whole electrical racing cars I think everyone at least should consider, if not an electrical car, at least a hybrid for their next car as the tech is getting better there too.
Are there any street-legal new cars available for under $10,000 CAN?
Too expensive. For example see:
The cheapest EV in Europe may be the Dacia Spring. It lists for about 20,000 euros, but with government incentives, the cost in Germany is closer to 11,000 euros.
I’m reluctant about getting a hybrid because once I am in circumstances when I can plug in (which will likely happen before I next buy a car) I’d be worried about running electrical so much that the gas sits in the tank and goes bad.
Only some hybrid vehicles can be plugged in. Many cannot.
Oh you’re right there isn’t today, so it must be impossible to do. 
I don’t think there should be any reasons why this couldn’t be possible. They make sub $10,000 ICE cars in India! (I understand there are economies of scale at work there)
These vehicles would just need bare necessities, no self driving, no fancy sensors, no lane detect, 14" tires. Hell it could even have manual windows! With a limited distance (sub 200km) they wouldn’t need huge batteries.
This should be possible!
MtM
And, like with Plug in hybrids from Chrisler, they use a maintenance mode that keeps the gas fresh by periodically burning up the old stuff in the tank.
My Volt would have the gas engine kick in if I went a certain number of miles (or days) without using gas. I expect most manufacturers have addressed this issue.
I’m curious-What is the average mileage per year per customer in Norway, as compared to the U.S. or Canada? This might be a factor.
This is about airplanes, but the aerospace/airline industry is putting most of its zero-net-carbon eggs in this basket: kerosene equivalent made from bio-whatever.
Right now production is literally a drop in the bucket, but the next year or so will be settling the chemical specifications and then capacity can start ramping up using a variety of feedstocks and production methods to see what wins the market.
The key thing is using sustainable feedstock of whatever nature. Not deforesting, competing with food crops, or consuming vast amounts of water. That limitation will be equally relevant to gasoline or diesel fuel for land- or water-based vehicles of all kinds.
I think Norway has warmer average temperatures in winter compared to Canada. E.g. the average high for January in Oslo is 32 degrees (according to Mr. Google) and in Montreal it’s 24. That probably helps.
I was thinking that, if they drive shorter distances on average, they would be more likely to drive electric cars.
I think it’s certainly possible.
The trouble is; “Would enough people buy such a vehicle to make it economically feasible to produce?”
My guess is “not at this present time in North America”. I think your thought that they would sell millions is wildly optimistic.