Was about to say just this. Too many idiots out there who confuse their daily commute with a Fast and Furious audition.

"As written, this implies that all humans are dangerous. And yet millions of road trips are taken daily with no one dying or being injured. The vast, vast majority of drivers will drive their entire lives and never get injured or injure someone in an accident. And it's been this way for decades."

BS. Here in the US alone we have 5.5 million auto accidents each and every year. Which in turn injured 2.5 million people and killed 40,000 others.

And if you don't care about the lives and misery, those accidents caused over $300 billion in damages.

Those are NOT inconsequential numbers.

Ektachrome was blue. Fujichrome punched blues and greens. Provia balanced (most) skin tones.

Kodachrome was just contrasty.

It is also a LOT easier to both post content and reach a lot of people via social media as opposed to doing both using your own website.

Once upon a time, in the long long ago, I could create content on my site and then automatically or semi-automatically share it on social media, where my social media followers would see it.

In regard to your comment that nobody is buying sedans any more... it's true. To an extent.

But that's largely because American automakers STOPPED MAKING THEM. And it wasn't do to lack of demand, but because American automakers continued to push buyers towards ever larger SUVs and trucks.... on which they make a lot more money.

Why sell someone a passenger car for $30,000 when you can convince the same person that they "need" a $100,000 truck?

On which they make $30,000 in PROFIT.

Not so simple as China's "push" to EVs. Auto sales (especially luxury sales) in China were dominated by foreign brands with highly sophisticated ICEs. The advent of the EV gave Chinese companies a way to leapfrog their competition, plus there's now a lot of preference in China for Chinese brands. Add it all up and foreign auto sales are plummeting.

The only way out is for many companies like Volvo and VM to partner and build in China. Much like how Honda and Toyota have plants in the US and as such they can advertise American-made (or at least assembled) cars.

I suspect that in the US the playbook will be for many dealerships to ignore EVs for as long as they can.

But once they're no longer able to do so, they're going to hit up the automaker for the money needed to convert. And the automaker won't really have a choice in the matter if they want to stay in business.

That said, Ford and GM both have over $100B in debt and their sales numbers are dwindling overseas, which means that they're either going to declare bankruptcy or run to the government for another handout.

They were subsidized in part by sales in China, but the Chinese market is turning away from them too.

The brand is effectively dead.

If you watch the video, it appears that a lot of the EV "repair" problems come down to Tesla and Rivian's fit and and finish issue. Misaligned panels, rattles, and so on. Tesla's drivetrain tech is pretty good, but after 10 years they're still learning how to build cars.

Wonder if someone has done a debt analysis on the amount of CO2 created building a nuclear power plant. All of that steel and concrete doesn't just drop out of the sky, not to mention running a construction site and equipment for a decade or more.

Then there's uranium mining, enrichment, storage, reprocessing...

There are quite a few studies that show EVs as better for the environment. We may not have nailed down every factor, but the flip side is that almost any other external factor you might want to add to the equation is probably offset by the same factor applied to building and continually fueling ICE vehicles. All of the exploration, drilling, mining, pumping, shipping, refining and distribution of oil and gasoline has massive externalities involved. Who produced the steel for the rigs and pipes? Who produced the drilling equipment and what was their footprint? Who built the oil tankers?

Only problem with ICEs is that you need to do all of the above, daily, year in and year out for the lifetime of the vehicle.

Moving on, I agree wholeheartedly that we should do everything possible to prioritize mass transit, walkability, and biking, and minimize car use.

But.

In the US we've spend the last century designing our cites around urban sprawl. Like it or not, that's where many of our homes are and where people live.

You're simply NOT going to solve existing urban sprawl, especially in western cities, with mass transit.

As such, some form of personal transportation must exist. And if so, then it benefits everyone to make it as efficient, and as clean, as possible.

Tesla's success, the general success in the EU, and the overwhelmingly abysmal sales of traditional ICE vehicles in China.

Many are waking up to the unpleasant realization that they're going to have to learn how to build the silly things, or be forced out of the market.

Pretty much the entire used car market is underwater at the moment, but we do need some reliable metrics for determining battery health and state of wear. Simple odometer milage will no longer cut it.

Took long enough.

Is this more signaling, like we did in the '80s regarding buying a Japanese car over something made by Ford or GM?

But yes, if traditional automakers won't make anything other than overpriced, oversized pickup trucks then I'll be more than happy to consider an affordable substitute.