The Validity of Electric Transportation
In response to my recent piece on electric transportation in Seeking Alpha, EV naysayer Glenn Doty writes a response that concludes: “I just don’t get how any environmentalist could support these. If the people who buy solar panels and a Tesla would instead buy a Prius and MORE solar panels, they would eliminate many times as much CO2, SO2, NOx, Hg, Cd, Pb, and other emissions for the same amount of money.”
I have to believe that there is some validity to all the stuff I’ve read that contradicts what you’re saying. More to the point, I also believe that we’ll see a day when EVs are an integral part of the smart grid world, used in providing “ancillary services” to the grid and absorbing off-peak power — especially wind. I also see microgrids powered by PV or wind that charge EVs (universities, corporate campuses, military bases, farms, etc.)
In addition, I see huge externalities to the world’s addiction to oil — especially the extraction and refinement of tar-sands, and war. From our previous discussions about war and oil, I know you believe that the commodity that replaces oil is just as likely to cause more war. I’m unconvinced.
I agree with Doty: Some people are “showing off” their eco “responsibility”, but really, why not buy a Prius and buy more solar panels instead of a nice Tesla?
What we need from now on is a change all the way in! We need to change our priorities, our waste, our eco-responsibility from the root.
It’s going to go very slow, the adjustment, but we are all going to have to change, not just a few.