Toyota was slow to start. They claim they will be able to fit solid state batteries to their hybrids by 2025. Nobody knows why hybrids and not BEVs. Maybe not enough raw materials, whatever they are, or maybe they want to test there to make sure it works before going all the way.
If we get solid state batteries with ~50% higher energy density, that’s a big shift. If we get that and more charging infrastructure, EV adoption could notch up a lot. Not that it isn’t now.
I believe Toyota bet big on hydrogen fuel cells.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a41103863/hydrogen-cars-fcev/
No matter whether people live on a flood plain, a forest fire zone or an area subject to water shortage, they will be bailed out for their bad judgment when things go wrong. And I am not just speaking about the USA.
These are basically electric cars with a hydrogen fuel cell powered generator or a what I call a self charging electric.
Need a lot more of this, imo. Alternatively, tier water prices such that you can have a lawn but it’ll cost you $1k per month to keep it green.
Just too bad that this doesn’t also apply to existing homes over a period of time.
Yeah, ideally there would be rules that somehow phase that in.
My house is 1/4 mile from the ocean, so is in a place with relatively high flood risk if we get a hurricane. Local ordinance says that if I were to do any major remodeling, then I would need to have the entire house lifted up and the basement filled in to mitigate flood risks. That’s fairly cost prohibitive, so more likely in a couple of years I will tear down the house and rebuild from scratch. That will also mean elevated with no basement, but will be comparable cost wise while allowing for modern insulation and all the other perks that come with a new house.
Additional attic floor for junk?
Ah, the Texas basement.
Not as hot as Death Valley but pretty hot in Greece currently. Had to laugh though at all the Brits being surprised at how hot Greece could be in July!
More EV price reductions.
Can you buy one at MSRP these days?
I don’t know. My perception is that auto inventories are stable and growing right now. This model specifically however I am not sure about.
Right out of the tech playbook. Go hype on new releases, limit quantity, and rack up profits from early adopters. Apple perfected this. Then sell the same thing 8 months later at a reduced price to a larger market slice.
Classic.
You almost have to with electronics. They can be feature rich but in the long run they aren’t that expensive to produce. An electric vehicle should be cheaper than a gas vehicle to my mind. Where many things on a gas vehicle are managed with complex mechanical and hydraulic systems on an electric vehicle there is only the battery and a plugged in electric motor on 2 or 4 of the wheels. Your in car inputs (gas and brake pedal) are nothing more than buttons on a video game controller and a computer in between handles the rest. Every other feature is just a device plugged into the battery power source.
One thing longer term brewing in my mind lately on this topic is that the global increase in interest rates is going to make headway against reducing carbon emissions much more expensive and thus much slower moving. I just don’t see anyway possible we make much headway in this fight over the next decade outside of probably a lot more EV’s driving up and down the road with coal and natural gas created electricity. Not sure that is going to do much but that’s where the financial incentives are and with capital being expensive that’s where the economy will go.
Of note also there is some budding economic research that says ESV investing actually makes it even more expensive for the biggest polluters to access capital because large allocations of money are not allowed to invest in their businesses. If they cannot access capital they cannot change their business models.
That’s fine. The main thing about EV’s is that they are energy efficient. Which is why they are cheap.
They need less natural gas, coal, or oil.
Also, I don’t think any short-term increase (like the war) or decrease (like COVID) is worth worrying about.
I suspect eventually they will be cheaper, but that’s mostly speculation and not hard data. Electric motors have basically one moving part, and only have one forward gear, so I suspect at scale they will be cheaper than producing an ICE drivetrain. Big cost for EVs is the battery and all of the controls (BMS) for that, if and when battery costs come down, that’ll be big.
I suppose one cost that EVs have more of is software development. Since an EV is basically a tech product, you’ve got more lines of code to deal with. That distinction has likely faded a bit as ICE cars have a healthy amount of tech in them now.
Italy is quickly becoming an absolute hellscape.
Rome is closing on 42C and increasing.
Puglia and Sicily nearing 48C with more to come.
And still, the right in Italy denies climate change so you can expect things to get a lot worse on the ground over the next few years while El Niño’s effects intensify and begin to add to Climate change effects.
Nah, it will probably peak in the winter and fade next summer. Before you know it, they’ll be saying “my Global Warming seems to be slowing down!”