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Several of the author's arguments center around what exists today in terms of infrastructure. Yes, if necessary grid/stations don't exist the average EV purchas

Several of the author's arguments center around what exists today in terms of infrastructure. Yes, if necessary grid/stations don't exist the average EV purchaser might have trouble getting recharged, kWh prices might go up, etc... Deep eye roll at stuff like this. I hope the author realizes that at some point there wasn't a network of gas stations across the country, there wasn't much of an electrical grid, or a highway system for that matter. Some of the solutions to these potential challenges are related to public investment, many can be solved by private investment and there is a profit opportunity, thus solutions will come. Better solutions in my mind. Here's the most missed point I see in all this infrastructure discussion. The most costly piece to next-generation recharge infrastructure already exists, and it is the natural gas "grid". It's massive and empowers much cleaner (than coal) local electricity generation. Today you can buy a small plot of land alongside the highway, pour a concrete pad, install a natural gas generator, purchase gas at bulk rates, and charge EV's for $$$. Even the smallest towns in America have NG lines running near or through them. The highest cost I've seen to have a bulk gas line brought on to a business' property was in the low tens of thousands. You can spreadsheet this, there's profit in this model and it requires NO improvements to the electrical grid and suffers practically no energy loss. Most of what the author sees as problems others will see as investment opportunities and solve. In fact I think I'm going to go take a look at the map of supercharging stations right now...

vinceguidry 11y ago
> I hope the author realizes that at some point there wasn't a network of gas stations across the country, Not much of an argument. The ICE won out over electric drivetrains for the express reason that liquid fuels are far easier to provide logistics for than batteries. Most electric car makers stopped production at some point in the 1910s. It's not that electric vehicles were never tried out. They were. Gasoline was just a way better fit.
- djrogers 11y ago
  Yes it was. In 1910. Do you honestly expect that to always be true?
  - vinceguidry 11y ago
    Until and unless something fundamental changes about batteries, sure. If you can figure out how to charge a battery at the same rate as filling up a gas tank, then that would qualify. If you can quadruple capacity, and therefore range, that would also qualify. Right now and for the foreseeable future, EVs are a promising alternative to regular cars, but if everyone hops on board, the logistics will murder us. EVs won't work until they're actually better than ICEs in every way. Not just some of the ways, all of them. Because only that will make the economics of replacing our entire gasoline-based infrastructure work.
    - ryanmarsh 11y ago
      > EVs won't work until they're actually better than ICEs in every way. I'm guessing you haven't spent much time behind the wheel of a Tesla. You're making a sweeping and unsupported assertion there.
      - vinceguidry 11y ago
        Do you think every EV is going to drive like a (specced-out) Tesla?
- ryanmarsh 11y ago
  > Gasoline was just a way better fit. Was. See: my argument re: small scale localized electricity production for EV charging thanks to our glorious NG infrastructure.
- ryanmarsh 11y ago
  > The ICE won out over electric drivetrains for the express reason that liquid fuels are far easier to provide logistics for than batteries It was purely logistics, not that energy density of early batteries was logarithmically worse than hydrocarbons?

vinceguidry 11y ago

> I hope the author realizes that at some point there wasn't a network of gas stations across the country, Not much of an argument. The ICE won out over electric drivetrains for the express reason that liquid fuels are far easier to provide logistics for than batteries. Most electric car makers stopped production at some point in the 1910s. It's not that electric vehicles were never tried out. They were. Gasoline was just a way better fit.

djrogers 11y ago
Yes it was. In 1910. Do you honestly expect that to always be true?
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  Until and unless something fundamental changes about batteries, sure. If you can figure out how to charge a battery at the same rate as filling up a gas tank, then that would qualify. If you can quadruple capacity, and therefore range, that would also qualify. Right now and for the foreseeable future, EVs are a promising alternative to regular cars, but if everyone hops on board, the logistics will murder us. EVs won't work until they're actually better than ICEs in every way. Not just some of the ways, all of them. Because only that will make the economics of replacing our entire gasoline-based infrastructure work.
  - ryanmarsh 11y ago
    > EVs won't work until they're actually better than ICEs in every way. I'm guessing you haven't spent much time behind the wheel of a Tesla. You're making a sweeping and unsupported assertion there.
    - vinceguidry 11y ago
      Do you think every EV is going to drive like a (specced-out) Tesla?
ryanmarsh 11y ago
> Gasoline was just a way better fit. Was. See: my argument re: small scale localized electricity production for EV charging thanks to our glorious NG infrastructure.
ryanmarsh 11y ago
> The ICE won out over electric drivetrains for the express reason that liquid fuels are far easier to provide logistics for than batteries It was purely logistics, not that energy density of early batteries was logarithmically worse than hydrocarbons?