Ford seems to have figured out that some people want a pickup-shaped car to haul dirty or bulky things in the open bed, but do not need a ton of payload capacity, a five ton towing capacity, or heavy duty off-road capability, and do not want the size or thirstiness of a larger pickup. Hence the Maverick, whose base model is a 37mpg hybrid.
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The fact is automotive companies are producing products that consumers are demanding. I like my full.sized pickup truck. I can haul the whole family, haul a load of mulch or otherwise in the bed, haul a camping or boat trailer or do all these things simultaneously. It’s a really versatile vehicle and I chose it because I often need it’s capabilities.
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Add the pollution from manufacturing solar panels and disposing them when they die if EV’s are powered by solar energy. They are full of toxic chemicals. And there are so many of them. ,
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And we know how clean oil, coal, and gas are! Not a toxic chemical in any of those to be found, nor pollution from producing or using them. Plastics are safe too in some world or another.
I find it ironic that I’ve been catching up on older local newspapers from our travels and one section they have once per week is news highlights from 100 years ago. Automobiles scared horses and should be banned. A runaway horse scared by one did damage to a property and almost hit a lady walking.
So many people are fearful of newer things, but given time, the younger generation seems to embrace more. Who now laments not having horses as our main form of transportation?
EVs need to get lower in price for the younger generation (and many others), but they will.
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Although I am in general in favor of EVs etc, I do agree there should be research focus on trade offs and safer methods. Also hoping there will be more good ways to recycle batteries and solar panels a decade or two down the road.
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For sure! Never stop research, or by default, we’d still be using horses as our main source of transportation!
And imagine the piles of horse manure!
Yes, EVs are not environmentally zero-cost. But ICEs have repeatedly been shown to have a higher environmental cost overall. My climate has changed significantly in the past two decades. That’s greenhouse gases. I’m glad to do something, anything, to reduce those. Next up, recycling batteries and solar panels and building better batteries!
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So what fraction of the budget is going to research compared to production?
There are a couple of car gurus on here, but I forgot who. Perhaps they know? I imagine a lot considering most companies want to be the first with something new/better.
I know there are various companies doing research on batteries. I have stock in at least one that looks very promising. I’ve already made a decent profit since I got in when they were a lot less expensive than now. Time will tell overall though.
Here’s what I mean. We are just getting started.
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Sad but not surprising. No such thing as a free lunch. There are always unintended or ignored/dismissed consequences
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Of course there are unintended consequences, does that mean we should quit trying to mitigate climate issues??? Go back to the old ways???
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Perhaps. Depends on what those consequences are. Personally I’m tired of the renewables good, fossil fuels bad dichotomy. Renewables come with their own set of issues … many of which are still being discovered.
This was quite eye opening from the article.
Solar makes up about 3% of the US electricity supply, but the Biden administration hopes it will reach 45% by 2050, primarily by building more huge plants like this across the country’s flat, empty plains.
Imagine how much land will be taken over to reach the 45% target? Does the US have enough? Do we want to blanket the country with solar panel arrays and wind turbines? Maybe? Maybe not?
The Riverside East Solar Energy Zone – the ground zero of California’s solar energy boom – stretches for 150,000 acres, making it 10 times the size of Manhattan.
How will that affect the environment and the animals and people living near those solar plants? How often are these detrimental affects discussed and acknowledged when renewables are mentioned and touted?
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Those who work in the energy field are aware of the concerns related to solar and wind and keep working to come up with ways to make it work even better. It’s a slow game and the popular press doesn’t go into the details and may simplify the issue. Are you are a climate change denier? If so, then you’re not even going to try and understand the issues.
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The last part of the linked page mentions using existing urban rooftops instead, so that natural space would not have to be built on. That would also reduce transmission losses that are distance related.
I think that would be an excellent solution. Creating such a close nexus between the generating equipment and end user seems like an idea worth exploring/researching. From the article it seems like cost and logistics are considerations that may be impeding acceptance and/or implementation?
I’ll also note there have been a couple solar panel fires on the roofs of commercial buildings near me. Don’t know how big a risk that may present?
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We could take time to carefully consider, which eco-zealots make it hard to do. Instead of sticking to solar energy only, we should also look into alternative energy sources, nuclear or hydrogen. A small amount of uranium can produce a lot of energy.
“A uranium fuel pellet (~1/2 in. height and diameter) contains the energy equivalent of one ton of coal or 149 gallons of oil.”
There are lots of folks out there working on alternative sources for generating electric power other than solar and wind. Many of these projects are in the very early stages of development and will take time to come to fruition. Unless you are involved in the energy business in some way, you probably don’t hear or read about these projects.
Moreover, there are areas other than the power industry where change is necessary to mitigate carbon emissions–one example is the construction industry.
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Most of other efforts to produce energy is not scalable so far. That’s probably we don’t hear much about them. We already have nuclear energy we can use, zero carbon, ltiny amount of waste. Why don’t we use it while we develop more responsible energy instead of jumping into solar/wind energy before thinking it through?
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