Then they can keep their progress.I can't help but think there is a lot of scared butt hurt in this thread.
Tesla could fold tomorrow, but electric cars are here to stay, and I opine that THIS is what bothers most of us. Modifying our gas guzzlers will become a forgotten talent, as the electric cars run circles around our beasts and gap them off the line. Increasing performance will be all about software programing and not about bolting on loud, smelly, oily parts.
Sucks, but true. Can't stop progress.
Are people buying these cars so that they are reducing they carbon footprint? Or reducing their overall harmful impact to the earth? Or trying to get away from petroleum in their lives?
Made in America of parts made from strip mining rare earth minerals in places like China and Africa etc. The inverter/converters and the onboard computers, displays etc are some of the worst offending components that are dependent on those minerals. The amount of petroleum used to power those mining machines more than offsets the LIFETIME of the electric car on the road.
Id give the electric car crowd the green thing if the entire manufacturing process was 100% solar powered. But its not. Good old hydrocarbons to the rescue. The amount of energy required to smelt and purify the raw materials into usable stock for battery production and the computer circuitry is bonkers.
Nothing against their performance, because they are impressive. But if you think that youre green because a fraction of the power in the US used to charge these things is from renewable, are we supposed to forget the other massive percentage that its likely from natural gas plants or coal back east? If you live in a place thats powered by nuclear, then Ill give that to you.
Until these things get 400 miles a charge, and a full recharge of the pack takes less than 5 minutes, its a gimmick. Dont get me wrong, we will probably eventually get there, but its a dirty little secret that these "green machines" are anything but.
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