Here are my thoughts, as if anybody cared. Politics is forcing society to adopt insane theories on the future of the automobile. EV’s are all the rage and even GM has announced that they are going to convert over to 100% EV’s soon. I think that is corporate virtue signaling suicidal BS. I do not buy into the wave of EV’s saving any manufactured peril or crisis.
The EV vehicle only has a practical use case for large city commuting or short drive applications. I think they make a reasonable choice for the metro dwelling suburbanite commuter who drives short distances to work and shuttles around for family errands. But you can’t take an EV on a long road trip. You can’t tow anything (boat/RV etc..) for anything more than short distances with an EV either. So as a city car, sure! However, if metro dwelling people begin to adopt EV’s in large numbers it will absolutely overwhelm our already straining, outdated and overloaded electrical infrastructure. I think it is fine if EV’s remain a small percentage niche’ of vehicles used in urban areas for daily commuting. But anything more than that will be a disaster. And FYI – EV batteries significantly lose range and efficiency in cold weather.
I actually think we need to go a little bit backwards in automotive tech. I would advocate for not only staying with traditional combustion power-train vehicles, but I think a little reverse technology would be a great idea. What am I talking about? I am glad you asked. Today’s cars are rolling computers. Drivers today are lazier than ever. All sorts of assisted driving technology cradles us and overrides human driving efforts. It’s so seamless we don’t even know it anymore. And the self-driving cars are on the rise as well. We see distracted driving all the time. The cell phone and large touchscreen computers in newer cars consume the human driver’s attention.
So, I propose a few minor changes. We can keep some of the technology, but I believe the skill of driving should be a higher priority in our society. Instead of rushing toward more technology and automation, we should delete a couple of tech items. In my view, we should go back to the majority of vehicles having manual transmissions. And I suggest one more tech delete. We should delete power steering in the majority of cars. Driving a car used to be about DRIVING! The thrill and the rush of freedom that comes from the open road and your integration with the steel and rubber and asphalt is an American cultural icon. And manual steering doesn’t have to be brutish. Perhaps a slightly assisted electric rack and pinion setup would be the right combination. What I am making the case for is more participation by the driver. If hands and feet are constantly moving and “working”, there is less room for distractions. And get rid of the computer screens in the cars!!!!!!! I don’t know what to say about cell phones. That is a problem I don’t have an answer for.
So anyway…….. That is my take on this. I could write a ten page essay on what I think about the electric grid, the “green” environmentalist movement, etc. Ok Ok! I have to say this. If you like EV’s and want one, Great!! But let’s be honest about the motivation for buying one. If you think buying an EV is going to save the planet, you have been lied to. The mining operations to get the rare earth minerals to make those batteries is ecologically devastating. We have environmental laws in the USA that prevent us from legally doing much of the mining required for EV batteries. So we pay for it in foreign nations. And many of these foreign nations have ZERO environmental laws or concerns. They also sometimes use slave and child labor to operate the mines. And when it’s time to replace the battery in your EV, it will cost more than the value of the car. And there is a strong possibility that the specific battery for your car is no longer made and is not available (because it has been several years and battery technology will have advanced by then). This means your car is now an expensive paperweight. You will have to send it off to the crusher like every other car. It’s called built in obsolescence, just like Apple does with it’s iPhones. You will have to replace it at certain time intervals. You have been played…. So unless you have $60k or $70k (or more) every 5-6 years to replace your EV??