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Whenever there is a new technology, people get caught up on how the new thing doesn't work exactly like the old thing and get hung up on small differences. With

Whenever there is a new technology, people get caught up on how the new thing doesn't work exactly like the old thing and get hung up on small differences. With online shopping, it was "it will never work if I can't try on clothes". With iPhones, it was "it will never work without a keyboard." But in the end, the new thing does new things which creates a new market. Electric cars have all sorts of awesome features that ICE cars don't have. You don't have the same quick refueling but you have lots of other advantages. They can act as a giant battery for your house. You can keep them charged at home with no effort and never go to a gas station again. If there's a gas shortage, you can still power them easily without waiting in lines. If you live in a 220v country, you can literally just plug them into a wall anywhere if you run out of power or want to charge overnight. Most electric cars let you turn them on and heat them up remotely with no need to leave the engine running and with no fear of generating fumes in an enclosed space.

mschuster91 3y ago
> With online shopping, it was "it will never work if I can't try on clothes". But in the end, the new thing does new things which creates a new market. At what cost, though? The effort of online fashion retailers and postal services to deal with returns is insane, and by far not all clothing can be shipped to customers as new, so it has to be re-sold as secondhand or destroyed. Yes, it's all priced in, but it's still insane from a holistic view on society.
- nohuck13 3y ago
  Eh, hard disagree. When I was in high school in a US suburb, if you wanted a pair of jeans, you had to take an hour out of your day, get in your polluting car, drive to the mall, go to Old Navy or someplace staffed by real human beings at all times (and there were thousands of these places stores selling the same live cookie-cutter experience staffed by live people). Now, the postal service does more work and more clothes get destroyed but how many person-hours does it take for society to bring you a pair of jeans? How many pollution-units? Surely less than it took when everyone had to drive to central place and do a transaction with a person?
  - fomine3 3y ago
    It seems to valid but US usburb is the outlier in the world.
    - nohuck13 3y ago
      You mean they didn't have go to stores staffed by real people in London or Delhi or Hong Kong?
      - fomine3 3y ago
        They don't need long drive to go store
fdasfasdf 3y ago
> Electric cars have all sorts of awesome features ... They can act as a giant battery for your house. Things may be different in Australia or the US but where I live it would make as much economic sense as use of your jewelry for openning cans. Or driving nails with your gold bars. Surely, you can do that but at what price and why when there are much more affordable and sensible alternatives.
- bobnamob 3y ago
  Rooftop solar is fairly prolific in Aus. Plenty of households can charge their car during the day for “free” (assuming sunshine and the car not being at a workplace car park ofc)
- ageitgey 3y ago
  It's not that you would replace a normal solar battery system with your car. It's that a car you already have would be able to automatically help with power balancing in emergencies or automatically reduce your power bill when they are plugged in anyway without you doing anything. https://octopusev.com/ev-hub/what-is-v2g https://octopusev.com/ev-hub/what-is-v2g For example, if there's an excess in wind energy at a given moment, the system can automatically funnel that energy into cars attached to the grid instead of turning off turbines, saving everyone money.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  In an emergency situation, using jewellery to open cans to save the life of your son would be very reasonable. Even if the jewellery was somehow completely worthless afterwards. Though in this case, the damage to the car is so minimal it is hardly measurable.
everdrive 3y ago
>With online shopping, it was "it will never work if I can't try on clothes". I never buy clothing online. I've tried Zappos a few times, but it's always a failure unless I've already tried on the same brand of shoes somewhere else. >With iPhones, it was "it will never work without a keyboard." I still hate smartphones to this day, and this is one of the primary reasons. When I'm trying to get my friends to use Signal, it's primarily so that our conversations aren't happening on a smartphone, but on a desktop client. I agree with your larger point about EVs, but if I had a time machine I might stop smart phones first.

mschuster91 3y ago

> With online shopping, it was "it will never work if I can't try on clothes". But in the end, the new thing does new things which creates a new market. At what cost, though? The effort of online fashion retailers and postal services to deal with returns is insane, and by far not all clothing can be shipped to customers as new, so it has to be re-sold as secondhand or destroyed. Yes, it's all priced in, but it's still insane from a holistic view on society.

nohuck13 3y ago
Eh, hard disagree. When I was in high school in a US suburb, if you wanted a pair of jeans, you had to take an hour out of your day, get in your polluting car, drive to the mall, go to Old Navy or someplace staffed by real human beings at all times (and there were thousands of these places stores selling the same live cookie-cutter experience staffed by live people). Now, the postal service does more work and more clothes get destroyed but how many person-hours does it take for society to bring you a pair of jeans? How many pollution-units? Surely less than it took when everyone had to drive to central place and do a transaction with a person?
- fomine3 3y ago
  It seems to valid but US usburb is the outlier in the world.
  - nohuck13 3y ago
    You mean they didn't have go to stores staffed by real people in London or Delhi or Hong Kong?
    - fomine3 3y ago
      They don't need long drive to go store

fdasfasdf 3y ago

> Electric cars have all sorts of awesome features ... They can act as a giant battery for your house. Things may be different in Australia or the US but where I live it would make as much economic sense as use of your jewelry for openning cans. Or driving nails with your gold bars. Surely, you can do that but at what price and why when there are much more affordable and sensible alternatives.

bobnamob 3y ago
Rooftop solar is fairly prolific in Aus. Plenty of households can charge their car during the day for “free” (assuming sunshine and the car not being at a workplace car park ofc)
ageitgey 3y ago
It's not that you would replace a normal solar battery system with your car. It's that a car you already have would be able to automatically help with power balancing in emergencies or automatically reduce your power bill when they are plugged in anyway without you doing anything. https://octopusev.com/ev-hub/what-is-v2g https://octopusev.com/ev-hub/what-is-v2g For example, if there's an excess in wind energy at a given moment, the system can automatically funnel that energy into cars attached to the grid instead of turning off turbines, saving everyone money.
Symbiote 3y ago
In an emergency situation, using jewellery to open cans to save the life of your son would be very reasonable. Even if the jewellery was somehow completely worthless afterwards. Though in this case, the damage to the car is so minimal it is hardly measurable.

everdrive 3y ago

>With online shopping, it was "it will never work if I can't try on clothes". I never buy clothing online. I've tried Zappos a few times, but it's always a failure unless I've already tried on the same brand of shoes somewhere else. >With iPhones, it was "it will never work without a keyboard." I still hate smartphones to this day, and this is one of the primary reasons. When I'm trying to get my friends to use Signal, it's primarily so that our conversations aren't happening on a smartphone, but on a desktop client. I agree with your larger point about EVs, but if I had a time machine I might stop smart phones first.