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It'd be wise to calculate for yourself. Existing and future green energy plants (solar/wind/water) won't be enough to charge 60% EV's in 10 years without nuclea

It'd be wise to calculate for yourself. Existing and future green energy plants (solar/wind/water) won't be enough to charge 60% EV's in 10 years without nuclear or fossil backup, if all current oil-based traffic was now using EVs. But as soon as you start generating energy for EVs from fossil fuel, the CO² balance reverses due to an even lower efficiency factor than combustion in modern ICEs. Either we accept nuclear energy as "clean" and massively stock up in this area (also investing massively in next generation nuclear, like fusion power), or we'll face a huge backlash in a few years. Or we invent a next-generation battery which is cheap enough (on resources) and improve upon existing energy storage by at least one order of magnitude. https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/12/f69/GITT%20ISATT%20EVs%20at%20Scale%20Grid%20Summary%20Report%20FINAL%20Nov2019.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/12/f69/GITT%20I...

est31 6y ago
We are only at the beginning of the S-curve of renewable adoption. The US is particularly well suited for this due to its large area. Furthermore, you can capture the CO2 of a the fossil based electric plant way more easily than putting all this machinery into each and every car. Retrofitting filters etc. is also way easier than telling your voters to buy new cars with better filters.
- firebaze 6y ago
  Economy of scale is important, definitely. I'm just not so sure if the economy of scale favors energy storage (required for large-scale EVs) or ICEs right now, or in the forseeable future if we don't heavily invest in backup energy if renewables are not available. The US is heavily dependent on air conditioning, for example. What would happen if the available energy was low in summer nights? Some kind of base energy backup needs to be there, and the energy cost of air conditioning alone is huge.
  - CyberDildonics 6y ago
    You do realize that people need less air conditioning at night and that this is something that works now and has worked for a long time right? This isn't some theoretical plan, people have been using air conditioning for a long time.

est31 6y ago

We are only at the beginning of the S-curve of renewable adoption. The US is particularly well suited for this due to its large area. Furthermore, you can capture the CO2 of a the fossil based electric plant way more easily than putting all this machinery into each and every car. Retrofitting filters etc. is also way easier than telling your voters to buy new cars with better filters.

firebaze 6y ago
Economy of scale is important, definitely. I'm just not so sure if the economy of scale favors energy storage (required for large-scale EVs) or ICEs right now, or in the forseeable future if we don't heavily invest in backup energy if renewables are not available. The US is heavily dependent on air conditioning, for example. What would happen if the available energy was low in summer nights? Some kind of base energy backup needs to be there, and the energy cost of air conditioning alone is huge.
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  You do realize that people need less air conditioning at night and that this is something that works now and has worked for a long time right? This isn't some theoretical plan, people have been using air conditioning for a long time.