The EV Revolution, Stage One

[matthew1]

When Europeans get to their cities by train for travel, they typically don't need a car. We do, because our cities are crap for getting around. So another reason to drive.

The US built itself around cars, for better or worse. There's no going back now.

Its not going back when you never had it.

But we did have it. There were trolleys. Here in Denver you can still see the tracks from over 100 years ago within the potholes(!).

I think that is one of the things that is missed in this discussion, The 100 year era of the ICE engine is ending. The new technology will replace most of what it does, but lifestyles will change to adapt to the parts that cant.

Agreed.

Would you take that same trip to UT if you had to pay EU prices of $8 for gas? Of course you would.

Maybe, but at $15 no. I don't know where my line is, but people have lines when it comes to a trip or food.

There is not an infinite elasticity here.

And this is crazy, nuts, and very exciting:

nearly half the generating capacity was installed in the US during 2021

That's in part because costs have dropped by more than 75 percent since 2010

[abscate]

You left off the...

nearly half the generating capacity was installed in the US during 2021.....was solar

That's in part because costs have dropped by more than 75 percent since 2010

[matthew1]

Solar, wind, whatever... a billion pond frogs in tiny frog yokes hopping around powering a generator , at this point anything is great, at long as it's not something coming from Saudi Arabia, US fracking, offshore rigs, or Canadian sand pits.

It's astounding how fast solar is maturing. I'm beyond happy to read that news.

[BlackBart]

But we did have it. There were trolleys. Here in Denver you can still see the tracks from over 100 years ago within the potholes(!).

True. You know the American auto manufacturers lobbied Congress to discourage street car systems and financial incentives for mass transit, and GM actually bought up entire trolley systems and ripped them out, to promote personal driving and to sell more cars post-war. Late 40's to mid 50's. The Interstate highway system was sold as a cold war Eisenhower mobilization system of wide roads for tanks and trucks - but it was really to encourage more car travel to connect the country and sell more cars.

Missoula Montana of all places had an efficient 10 mile electric trolley system ....in 1910.

[BlackBart]

nearly half the generating capacity was installed in the US during 2021.....was solar

That's in part because costs have dropped by more than 75 percent since 2010

I have a B-I-L in engineering fields and he worked for a solar panel start-up in Colorado with several University engineering professors. They were developing new ways to build the sandwich in PV panels, with the goal to get the cost down to a dollar per watt. That was a big deal at the time. One small issue was I think they had cobalt embedded in the layers, which needs some care.

Just as they started pumping out development prototypes, which were getting more and more efficient, and planning for production runs, the Chinese started dumping super cheap PV panels on the market, and their costs were too high to compete.

[matthew1]

But we did have it. There were trolleys. Here in Denver you can still see the tracks from over 100 years ago within the potholes(!).

True. You know the American auto manufacturers lobbied Congress to discourage street car systems and financial incentives for mass transit, and GM actually bought up entire trolley systems and ripped them out, to promote personal driving and to sell more cars post-war. Late 40's to mid 50's. The Interstate highway system was sold as a cold war Eisenhower mobilization system of wide roads for tanks and trucks - but it was really to encourage more car travel to connect the country and sell more cars.

Missoula Montana of all places had an efficient 10 mile electric trolley system ....in 1910.

Oil, car companies, and rubber companies... they did that. There were many huge economic postwar societal revolutions, and not all of them were good. Food/farming is another example. Some upsides to that, but also many downsides.

Another is medical, but that was well before WWII, when the strict medical system we live in was built.

Just today I picked up a prescription for... high fluoride toothpaste. Prescription $16 toothpaste, which is not some difficult to manufacture wonder-product, but rather is simply normal $4 toothpaste, only with the industrial byproduct fluoride added. So naturally it should be controlled, and be 4X the cost it should be.

Sarcasm: Imagine if one could simply walk into a store and buy cheap high fluoride toothpaste without the consent of a medical doctor! Could you imagine the havoc this would cause? Guys brushing their teeth on street corners with high fluoride toothpaste , everywhere, unsupervised?! The horror.

But I digress...

[BlackBart]

That's crazy talk. We couldn't allow that!

[matthew1]

Moms Against OTC High Fluoride Toothpaste

[abscate]

Moms Against OTC High Fluoride Toothpaste

That’s how the Communists contaminate our precious bodily fluids ….

One of my top five movies of all time

[BlackBart]

main-qimg-078d83cd7687937cfe69a895d4d2b75b-lq.jpeg (85.67 KiB) Viewed 487 times

"You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!!"