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I mean, not if one is oilprice.com, but yes. Hopefully demand never rebounds. Unfortunately, cheap oil does have repercussions on the value proposition for ele

I mean, not if one is oilprice.com, but yes. Hopefully demand never rebounds. Unfortunately, cheap oil does have repercussions on the value proposition for electrification of transportation. However, electric cars are now mature enough that they have other selling points: quieter, not dependent on gas stations, better performance, better resale price (at least in the case of Tesla). Buying a new gas car in 2020 seems downright foolish.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
These are all great points, but we can do more to accelerate the electrification of everything and the deprecation of petroleum for all but the most niche use cases. We’re almost to the point that non essential combustion should be banned after a reasonable amount of time.
- danans 6y ago
  > we can do more to accelerate the electrification of everything Definitely. The first thing is suggest is replacing old gas furnaces with heat pumps. No exotic tech needed, just bigger scale to reduce upfront prices.
  - toomuchtodo 6y ago
    Agree! And these are good paying trades jobs that can’t be outsourced. Heat pumps, insulation, houses that’ll pass a blower door test ~4 or lower aren’t sexy but they’re the biggest bang for each buck spent.
    - danans 6y ago
      The big challenge is cost effectively retrofitting existing homes for greater efficiency in the general direction of net zero or passive house. I'm trying to do it now and ouch it's pricey.
- paledot 6y ago
  A smart government would have increased their carbon tax to absorb the dip in price. (Here I'm assuming, of course, that a smart government already has a price on carbon.)
nicbou 6y ago
> not dependent on gas stations Gas stations are much easier to find than electric plugs that are near your destination and available for a few hours. Electric cars are still very impractical if you intend to travel more than 300 kilometres from your home. A five minute pit stop is easier to organise than a full charge outside of a metropolitan area.
- paledot 6y ago
  Unless you're getting a car specifically for road trips, the increased inconvenience of a 20-minute fast charge over a 5-minute stop at a gas station is more than offset by never needing to stop for gas on the way to/from work again.
  - nicbou 6y ago
    > Unless you're getting a car specifically for road trips I do (a motorcycle, actually), but that's irrelevant here. You assume that everyone has a dedicated parking space with access to an electrical connector. This is not the reality of most city dwellers. When I travel by motorcycle, I can fuel up at any point in the trip. It's a non-event. It requires no planning. If I had to take a longer lunch in a specific town while my car is charging, I'd regret my purchase. Let's say you want to get on the Autobahn and visit your grandma for Christmas. You might need to stop because it's cold and you're driving fast. You'll have to wait 40 minutes, not 20, to add a 300km range to your car. Those are the German numbers. The Canadian winter is probably much harsher. You might have to deal with a bunch of red lights too, because those quick chargers are often in the city centres, not right next to the highway like gas stations. They can also be occupied.

toomuchtodo 6y ago

These are all great points, but we can do more to accelerate the electrification of everything and the deprecation of petroleum for all but the most niche use cases. We’re almost to the point that non essential combustion should be banned after a reasonable amount of time.

danans 6y ago
> we can do more to accelerate the electrification of everything Definitely. The first thing is suggest is replacing old gas furnaces with heat pumps. No exotic tech needed, just bigger scale to reduce upfront prices.
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  Agree! And these are good paying trades jobs that can’t be outsourced. Heat pumps, insulation, houses that’ll pass a blower door test ~4 or lower aren’t sexy but they’re the biggest bang for each buck spent.
  - danans 6y ago
    The big challenge is cost effectively retrofitting existing homes for greater efficiency in the general direction of net zero or passive house. I'm trying to do it now and ouch it's pricey.
paledot 6y ago
A smart government would have increased their carbon tax to absorb the dip in price. (Here I'm assuming, of course, that a smart government already has a price on carbon.)

nicbou 6y ago

> not dependent on gas stations Gas stations are much easier to find than electric plugs that are near your destination and available for a few hours. Electric cars are still very impractical if you intend to travel more than 300 kilometres from your home. A five minute pit stop is easier to organise than a full charge outside of a metropolitan area.

paledot 6y ago
Unless you're getting a car specifically for road trips, the increased inconvenience of a 20-minute fast charge over a 5-minute stop at a gas station is more than offset by never needing to stop for gas on the way to/from work again.
- nicbou 6y ago
  > Unless you're getting a car specifically for road trips I do (a motorcycle, actually), but that's irrelevant here. You assume that everyone has a dedicated parking space with access to an electrical connector. This is not the reality of most city dwellers. When I travel by motorcycle, I can fuel up at any point in the trip. It's a non-event. It requires no planning. If I had to take a longer lunch in a specific town while my car is charging, I'd regret my purchase. Let's say you want to get on the Autobahn and visit your grandma for Christmas. You might need to stop because it's cold and you're driving fast. You'll have to wait 40 minutes, not 20, to add a 300km range to your car. Those are the German numbers. The Canadian winter is probably much harsher. You might have to deal with a bunch of red lights too, because those quick chargers are often in the city centres, not right next to the highway like gas stations. They can also be occupied.