F150 Lightning
Ford Truck Lover
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,526
Likes: 754
From: Michigan
(Actually it is 6 cylinders with EB........but your sentence sounded better!)
Ford Truck Lover
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,526
Likes: 754
From: Michigan
Read what you wrote.
I didn’t say what you wrote.
What I said was hydro development is essentially capped in the US for environmental reasons and offers no potential for expansion to power EVs or existing demands. The fact is renewables in the US account for only 20% of electric power production, including hydro, to serve EXISTING power demands not including the added power demands of expanding the EV fleet. The consequence of this FACT is every time an EV is plugged in it consumes fossil fuels. You can allocate the limited renewable power sources to EVs but then you must SUBTRACT the allocation from existing demand. It’s a zero sum analysis the EV fanboys refuse to acknowledge. Further, EVs are a relatively inefficient use of electric power. If you care about carbon reduction better to apply the very limited renewable power supplies to higher efficiency existing demand. None of this fits your narrative but these are the inconvenient FACTS!
I didn’t say what you wrote.
What I said was hydro development is essentially capped in the US for environmental reasons and offers no potential for expansion to power EVs or existing demands. The fact is renewables in the US account for only 20% of electric power production, including hydro, to serve EXISTING power demands not including the added power demands of expanding the EV fleet. The consequence of this FACT is every time an EV is plugged in it consumes fossil fuels. You can allocate the limited renewable power sources to EVs but then you must SUBTRACT the allocation from existing demand. It’s a zero sum analysis the EV fanboys refuse to acknowledge. Further, EVs are a relatively inefficient use of electric power. If you care about carbon reduction better to apply the very limited renewable power supplies to higher efficiency existing demand. None of this fits your narrative but these are the inconvenient FACTS!
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 14,975
Likes: 6,035
From: SE Michigan
If people want to get more educated about power generation and the challenges ahead that we face, Bill Gates' latest book explains it in clear language. You don't have to agree with the conclusions, but it may make our challenges more understandable. Hydro is of course mentioned, and how there is basically zero ability to add any more due to environmental concerns. Nuclear has the issue that there are no new designs for something like 50 years, and there needs to be. He's invested some of his money in companies trying to find the next things to be doing (his motives don't matter, read to understand the challenges). How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need.
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 14,975
Likes: 6,035
From: SE Michigan
Thank you! That is the obvious solution yet remains politically incorrect. Its coming though, because significant renewable power expansion isn’t environmentally or technically feasible. EVs must wait until non fossil fuel power is real and that is going to take a long time.
Ford Truck Lover
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,526
Likes: 754
From: Michigan
Agreed, rapid expansion of nuclear is a decade away. So are other renewables. In fact, renewable expansion will become harder and costlier because the easy applications are done. Expansion of wind turbines off shore is a good example of the future of wind: high cost to develop, high cost to maintain and short life span. These realities form my basis for pessimism of EVs. We simply don’t have the means to power them and they are an inefficient use of electricity. I don’t argue on the quirks of EVs. I argue against EVs on the basis of the false representation that EVs are an environmental improvement.
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 14,975
Likes: 6,035
From: SE Michigan
Agreed, rapid expansion of nuclear is a decade away. So are other renewables. In fact, renewable expansion will become harder and costlier because the easy applications are done. Expansion of wind turbines off shore is a good example of the future of wind: high cost to develop, high cost to maintain and short life span. These realities form my basis for pessimism of EVs. We simply don’t have the means to power them and they are an inefficient use of electricity. I don’t argue on the quirks of EVs. I argue against EVs on the basis of the false representation that EVs are an environmental improvement.
The real focus needs to be on the biggest power users we have. Gates explains them very clearly, and you go duh. Cement production and steel production produce more emissions every year than all the passenger vehicles in the entire world. We have to develop ways to produce these products in a way that causes no emissions (currently impossible, has to be discovered / invented).
