My take, a few points:
Riding-sharing, car-ownership-sharing arrangements, and autonomous driving vehicles are great products for urban dwellers. Easier, cheaper, and more convenient than owning a car if you spend most of your time in a city. Gov need not mandate this, however, because market demand will lead the charge.
EV cars are currently awesome because they are convenient and need almost zero maintenance. They don't yet help the environment because it takes about 3-5 years (depending on where you live) to pay of the carbon penalty involved in the production of the car. Ergo, it pollutes more to build an EV, but over time they pollute less. Why the gov is subsidizing EV cars is beyond me.
The future of EV cars will be dictated by battery technology. If/when other less precious materials (than lithium) can be effectively utilized to produce better batteries (long range/lighter weight) the calculous could change on a dime in EV's favor.
Currently, the majority of the Lithium for EV batteries (70%+) comes from China. Eckkk.
One additional factor. American cars have been getting larger and heavier for decades. Americans love SUVS and trucks. If people started driving smaller, lighter sedans, gas consumption would drop, and traffic safety would improve. Heavy vehicles produce more lethal collisions. Ironically most EVs are sedans (good) but come with an approx 1,000 lbs battery weight penalty.
Comments