Quote:
Originally Posted by Truenorth00
In a lot of domains we don't have a technology problem. We have an adoption problem. And government intervention absolutely helps.
90% of the public doesn't need full size gas/diesel pickups and SUVs to get groceries from Costco every weekend. But automakers sell them those vehicles because those are the most profitable products for automakers. Tell the automakers they have to sell 20% of their customers BEVs and PHEVs and either they'll market some customers towards BEV/PHEV cars to keep sales up or they'll accept lower margins and make EV pickups and SUVs.
And given that this mandate lines up with the timelines of nine large American states that are close to half the US auto market, this intervention is effectively market making for EVs that speeds adoption along and pushes further cost declines. But of course, absolutists as usual will fight and fearmonger on each every regulation cause it's not about tech or climate change anymore. But apparently all about culture wars.
Honestly, as an engineer who has actually taken some cleantech courses at the graduate level, half the time when I hear, "We need better tech...", I know what will follow is technologically illiterate politically motivated screed. Most people have no idea how far along the tech is, how much is being built and deployed, and that the big issues are usually scalability and markets (which drive reinforcing cycles), not the tech itself. "We need better tech," is just a stalling tactic now. And not one that anybody with the slightest amount of knowledge doesn't see through.
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Consumers drive the market. Corporations respond to the market.
Yes SUVs and trucks are more profitable, as a more expensive product should be. However it is the consumers who are demanding these products, and the corporations are simply fulfilling a demand.
Canadians (and Americans) have a higher car ownership rate than Europeans, and the average distance each vehicle drives per year is more than double what the average European car does per year.
It's a lot easier to easier to own an EV if you don't need to drive very often. However if your lifestyle requires you to do 50k a year, which PLENTY of professions require, then the 30+ minutes it takes to charge an EV won't cut it, since you'll be doing it so often. For contractor who need to drive a light-duty truck or van (with the battery therefore being twice as large), this becomes over an hour that they have to sit and wait for the vehicle to charge. Multiplied by 2 guys in a truck, that is $200 of lost potential revenue where they're waiting for the vehicle to charge.
EVs are the future, and the adoption is going to happen regardless, but government forcing it down peoples' throats before they are ready for it at an individual level is only going to result in unintended consequences.
In 2 years from now, car ownership is going to become very expensive for people who aren't able to buy electric vehicles yet.