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Originally Posted by derklug
OK, this is going to be longish, so bear with me.
My problems with EV's lies in the fact that resources are being forced into the development of these vehicles by state and federal governments. EV's still require fossil fuels to operate as their charging comes off the grid powered by coal, oil, or natural gas. Hydro, nuke, solar, and wind make up a minority of the total world output of energy such that they really don't make much of a dent in CO2 emissions. Solar and wind energy have promising growth potential, but still need to be backed up with conventional powerplants to cover cloudy days and still winds. Solar, Tide and Wind generation is pretty insignificant...and will continue to be a pie in the sky technology.
So, now we buy our EV, and we still have to buy a conventional or hybrid to take any trips outside of the cars range. So we are doubling the environmental footprint of the EV on the supply side, making it even less environmentally friendly. And I won't even get into the disposal side of the batteries.
I am a firm believer that the market will dictate what manufacturers produce, and if left alone would find the best answer to dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. Energy policies set by whomever donates to the winning candidate are not going to get the best end result. Government demanding you build EV's will result in better, more efficient EV's, but could blind industry to a different solution that is better.
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One of the issues with our power grid is that we ARE still using coal & petroleum for a large part of it.
We have a lot of Hydro here in the Pacific Northwest. Probably one of our most effecient and cleanest ways to generate power. That's limited, and most waterways that can be dammed have been already.
I'm a huge believer in nuclear power. As with many technologies, there are some solutions out there which could replace the traditional fossil fuels we use now...over time.
I posted a long time ago about Hyperion, and this type of safer "nuclear" power is something that could be rolled out fairly easily. So we do have options as gas prices go up. Coal is plentiful, but relatively "dirty" as far as it's impact on the environment.
http://www.gen4energy.com/