I'm always amazed at how quickly the paradigm shifts... It seems to perpetually jump in huge leaps and bounds, rather than the "SLOW march of progress".
The purpose of this post is not to debate the benefits of a SINGLE electric vehicle, but rather to address the the possibility of mass numbers (perhaps eventually, the majority) of vehicles being electric. The debate of how "green" electric vehicles actually are can be argued (the electricity must come from somewhere and the batteries are quite toxic), not to mention range, charge times, charge locations, etc.
As most of you know, at the inception of the automobile they were actually various competing power sources (steam, electric, gasoline), with gasoline eventually winning out, primarily due to "power per pound of fuel" coupled with manufacturing and many other factors. The single factor that led to the dominance of the internal combustion engine was not the engine itself, but the infrastructure that was developed (filling stations) that eventually drove out all other competition.
Given this, EV infrastructure is what actually concerns me. Public charging stations are relatively cheap to build, so I think these will appear very quickly, but what about the overall impact on the grid? We have an aging electric grid, and additionally, are currently running at near maximum output on also aging production equipment. How much more of a burden will we be placing if the majority of vehicles are trying to compete for this same resource?
Finally, back to the example of the infrastructure which led to internal combustion vehicles driving out competition, if we suddenly build a massive system for EV's, have we not just caused the same issue, and end up limiting the development of what (in my opinion) would be a far superior choice... Hydrogen power? After all, it's highly abundant, renewable, zero emission, refuels quickly, provides superior range and (with advancements in production) cheap. This is why I am concerned about flooding the market with a product that could end up delaying the advancement of what would appear to be a far support choice. Oh well, maybe next century.
Sorry for my rant.
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