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.

"Our current materials supplies will not allow us to build enough batteries. And so, we are looking for more supplies. And, looking for replacements for all the rarer materials that are expensive, and impacted by conflict -- sodium, iron and so forth. I don't think we will be balancing the grid with (new) lithium ion in tens years time."

Sigh. From what I've read it appears that the current deposits found in the Salton Sea area ALONE could provide enough lithium for 375 million EVs.

I'm a fan of nuclear, actually. But the sad truth is that no one has managed to build an affordable plant on time and under budget in the last half century.

Had some hope for SMRs, but it looks like costs are going to be an issue there as well.

Tesla's 3 and Y are some of the best selling cars on the planet and have dramatically reduced in price over the past year. We just hit the semi-magic $100/kWh price point and battery prices continue to fall.

BYD sells cars for a profit. Volvo's EX30 has started shipping, and will hit at $34K here in the US.

2024 is probably the tipping point.

We're starting up the S-curve past the early adoption stage. I think people are going to be shocked at how fast this transition is going to happen from here on out...

Newer batter technologies (LFP, SS, etc.) are replacing the flammable electrolyte and I suspect that in the very near future most of these occurrences will simply fade away.

Be interesting to see what Hollywood does though, given there that a typical ICE tends to explode the second it's shot with a bullet or simply rolls over.

About 40% of our energy budget goes to producing heat, residential and industrial. Anything which lets us better utilize or produce said heat helps.

Many companies are having a go at this. Moving excess heat from industrial processes to municipal or industrial heating systems is definitely an option, as is simply capturing excess heat and one stage and using it at another.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

"Give things they want but wouldn't buy for themselves."

That is, unfortunately, a rather tall order.

It seems to me that plenty of people love to go around jumping from material to material and using some imagined scarcity to prove that it's impossible to reach our climate goals. Which that implication, of course, that since it's impossible we shouldn't even bother.

Thus maintaining the current fossil fuel status quo. (I would who THAT could benefit?)

Last year all we heard about was just how much lithium was going to be needed and that we didn't have enough. Only this last year we seemed to find new deposits as demand increased.

I suspect that the same will probably occur here, or, failing that we'll switch to other materials like aluminum or continue research into technologies like braided carbon nanotube windings that promise to outperform copper.