Marko Tsourkan
Founding Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2011
- Messages
- 5,005
- Reaction score
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This is exactly what I think every time I hear about electric cars. Unless you are getting the electricity from a renewable energy source, how is it different than a standard car?Electric cars always make me laugh a little.
How are they so green?
Did electricity start growing on trees at some point and I missed it?
You still have to plug this puppy in every night to the tune $5-10.
And your local power plant still has to burn a truckload of coal every hour to make that oultet hot.
On the other hand, I applaud all efforts to move us toward a less oil dependant future. I just hope we aren't pushing straight away into a nuclear dependant future (although it doesn't seem avoidable).
Unfortunately I wasn't. GM and Chrysler (with the help of SPa) have both repaid their loans, yes they were zero/low interest but they were repaid, ford did not borrow this last go around.
How much (clean, as claimed by industry) coal burning to turn into electricity would contribute to greenhouse gases as opposed to car emission from petroleum products?I look at this from a practical standpoint.
Rather than trying to defend the idea of electrical car or hydrogen car or whatever (how can you deny that it is not cool? ) as a vehicle of the future, I will post a few questions here.
-How much oil do we produce in US and how much do we consume?
-Where do we get most of our oil?
-Where do some of the money we spend on oil ends up?
-How much reserves of coal and natural gas do we have?
-How much (clean, as claimed by industry) coal burning to turn into electricity would contribute to greenhouse gases as opposed to car emission from petroleum products?
-How much does US invest into R&D for this types of projects as well as renewable energy technologies as compared to China?
-Where do you want to see US car industry in 10 years?
-Did you know that a good portion of R&D that puts US on the cutting edge technologically (mostly defense related) has been financed by US government for decades? Why is financing R&D into renewable energy sources and Eco-friendly technologies should be treated differently?
This was not meant to be a political discussion, so don't turn it into one.
M
Electric cars were remote possibility in 2008 and are a reality in 2012. A lot can happen in 4 years with the right incentives. Clean coal is possible, but the mix of wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, coal and natural gas plants would be more preferable.
-Where do we get most of our oil?
Don't mean to intrude, but my (former) home state of North Dakota is on track to surpass California and Alaska in oil production within 4-7 years.
k.
I am talking about production of electric cars. Unveiling a prototype is one thing, but get it in production and on the road (build infrastructure for them across the states) is another.
I am not saying that Tesla is the first electric car to be produced, or for that matter, an electric vehicle. Many mid-size forklifts have been electric for decades.
I find Tesla design very appealing. Neither Volt nor Leaf do anything for me design-wise, and neither did Prius. I am sure some people share this sentiment and will pay a premium for well designed cars.
As whether 50K car is a "luxury" car, how different it is in principle from a knife that costs several hundred dollars? Most folks outside knifeknuts community would consider them luxury as well. No?
M
As whether 50K car is a "luxury" car, how different it is in principle from a knife that costs several hundred dollars? Most folks outside knifeknuts community would consider them luxury as well. No?
M
This is exactly what I think every time I hear about electric cars. Unless you are getting the electricity from a renewable energy source, how is it different than a standard car?
OK...so who paid you back for your tax dollars that went into the bailout loans?
T. The bailout came out of TARP, which I'm pretty sure wasn't funded with tax dollars. Instead they electronically printed money, so when the banks and car companies paid it back they just destroy it again. The taxpayer isn't directly involved.
I agree with you that there is a flaw in our energy supply, and that in other countries electric cars are good for the environment. I am talking just about the United States.The basic point is that generating electricity in large generating stations is a lot more efficient than it is in millions of small engines. Studies have been done, you can just Google it if you really want to know. Plus the electricity that comes out of your wall should be much cleaner than gas sources. Just because not everyone has managed to get off coal yet doesn't mean there's a flaw in the concept of electric cars, it means there's a flaw in your energy supply.
So who "electronically printed" this money to lend to the government to buy assets & equity from unstable corporations? Ya think the Federal Reserve? Do you think that a privately held financial institution just gifted this money to the govt. without service fees? And that when the time comes for repayment, recipients of these bailouts aren't going to pass the service charges along to the consumers? Most of the major players paid their TARP debt back in record time and then posted healthy profits. How convenient. And for most people, their private financial situation hasn't improved one iota. The taxpayer is directly involved with every single dollar misused by the federal government, whether it's obvious or not.
I agree with you that there is a flaw in our energy supply, and that in other countries electric cars are good for the environment. I am talking just about the United States.
As for large power plants being more efficient than smaller engines I don't see how you get to that solution. The amount of energy that is lost transferring the energy through the grid line alone probably would nullify any advantage they have over small scale production, if they have any to begin with.
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