3 ms·
The world isn't rushing towards electric cars. USA, Europe and China are. The rest of the world isn't switching to electric any time soon, because electric cars
by Magnusmaster 5y ago
The world isn't rushing towards electric cars. USA, Europe and China are. The rest of the world isn't switching to electric any time soon, because electric cars are expensive and billions need to be invested in infrastructure to make them viable.
- lastofthemojito 5y agoI might even say "Urban/Coastal USA, Northern/Western Europe and China" instead of USA, Europe and China. I expect to see the USA and Euro auto markets to become more fractured as climate change deniers, big government resisters, and just folks who romanticize the "good ol days" continue to buy ICE cars. Heck, it's already fragmented - I just looked at the new car inventory for an LA-area Chevy dealer. They have 65 ICE pickups, 11 ICE SUVs, 7 ICE sports cars and 29 EVs, so about 25% EVs, well above the national average. Then I looked at a rural South Dakota Chevy dealer's inventory - 11 ICE pickups, 7 ICE SUVs and that's it. Zero EVs on offer there. It might not be fractured in a regulatory sense, just that manufacturers typically sell their EVs in one sort of place and their gas-powered vehicles in another, and dealers only stock what they know they'll sell.
- tuatoru 5y agoBillions would need to be invested to replace and expand fossil fuel infrastructure too. More billions would be needed for hydrogen. It's just a matter of who gets the government subsidies/favorable tax treatment, cynically. When batteries get cheap enough and PV arrays have been sufficiently tropicalized, there will be some switching in the rest of the world. It'd happen faster without fossil fuel interests being able to get the subsidies, though.