Before saving the economy and helping railway workers get better pay, President Joe Biden was in Detroit yesterday testing out new cars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXxwRgGjDW0
No, the Secret Service did not let President Biden drive that V-8 Corvette Z06 back to Washington. Someday, Joe, someday….
Biden acknowledged his love for what that Corvette, not to mention the 1967 Corvette Stingray back in his garage, in his speech to the North American International Auto Show:
You know, you all know I’m a car guy. I’m here because the auto show and the vehicles here give me so many reasons to be optimistic about the future. And I really mean it. Just looking at them and driving them, they just give me a sense of optimism, although I like the speed too [President Joe Biden, remarks to North American International Auto Show, Detroit, 2022.09.14].
Much of that optimism comes from the new electric cars that the President sees coming from Detroit:
It used to be — used to be that to buy an electric car, you had to make all sorts of compromises, but not now. Thanks to American ingenuity, American engineers, American autoworkers, that’s all changing.
Today, if you want an electric vehicle with a long range, you can buy one made in America. (Applause.) If you want one that charges quickly, buy American. You want one that’s fast in the quarter mile, buy American. (Applause.)
So — by the way, while we’re here in Detroit building in America, we’re making it easier for folks at home to buy it here in America. Companies have announced new investments of more than $36 billion in electric vehicles and $48 billion in batteries manufacturing in the U.S. [President Biden, 2022.09.14].
…with some investment, of course, from good government:
As part of the Infrastructure Law, we’re investing $7.5 billion to build electric vehicle charging stations all across America. So, today — (applause) — I’m pleased to announce we’re approving funding for the first 35 states, including Michigan, to build their own electric charging infrastructure throughout their state. (Applause.)
And you all are going to be part — part of a network of 500,000 charging stations. (Applause.) Five hundred thousand throughout the country installed by the IBEW — (applause) — who I owe a special thanks to for the last election.
Look — look, folks, you know, the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified. Whether you’re driving coast to coast along the I-10 or on I-75 here in Michigan, charging stations will be up and as easy to find as gas stations are now. We’re also going to be investing $7 billion to make American car companies and have the batteries and other critical materials they need [President Biden, 2022.09.14].
In one day, President Biden kept the trains running, and he celebrated the new automobiles that American invention, labor, and sensible government is getting moving. The President even got to test drive one of those electric vehicles, a Cadillac Lyriq, on a slow trip on the convention hall carpet. “It’s a beautiful car,” said President Biden, “but I love the Corvette.”
my son has ordered an EV. He has to wait for it.
He lives in Maryland where electric rates must be low, as most of their electricity comes from nuclear and natural-gas fired plants; a neighbor has an EV and loves it.
How well an EV will work for you depends on where your electricity comes from, how high your rates are, what the sticker price of the car is, what its batteries are made of and how long they last, and how long you can wait for delivery.
But you don’t have to compromise?
We are on a rural electric time-of-use plan and pay hundreds of dollars a month for electricity without plugging in a EV. Has anybody calculated the cost of plugging in an EV every night? And if everybody charges their cars from 9 PM to 7 AM, what will that do to a Time-of-use electric rate plan?
More govt handouts for big corporations who should be building charging stations on their own (I mean come on, the world’s richest man getting even more govt cash?)
The current ‘grid’ can’t handle a heatwave without telling people not to charge their EVs, so not sure why they’re shoving EVs down everyone’s throats right now. Toyota seems to be the smart car company and is taking a more gradual approach.
Also EVs are waaay too expensive for what one gets. There’s hardly anything to them (which is good btw), so why the insane prices for them? Car companies must not want to sell many…
I think EVs are good for most people, but not at these prices and not with the current ‘grid’. Too risky to not also have a gas powered auto as backup right now.
I may not have this quote exactly right… but the comments from anne and sx123 got me thinking about the old days, when replacing animal-powered travel with automobiles seemed crazy…
henry ford said something like this, after helping launch the automobile industry despite naysayers: “if i had asked the people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”
Utilities are not your friends. Several utilities are based in South Dakota because of the state’s regressive tax structure — Northwestern Energy and Black Hills Power among them. Screw them.
Rooftop solar is affordable for most and microgrid can make up for the rest but AWD and 4WD hybrids make the most sense for those miserable deplorables who live on the frozen tundra.
The cost of subsidizing, manufacturing, transporting, erecting, maintaining then removing just one wind turbine eyesore bat and bird killer would take a thousand subscribers to energy self-reliance. Microgrid technologies are destined to enhance tribal sovereignty, free communities from electric monopolies and net-metering only gives control back to utilities enabled by moral hazard.
There’s little benefit in commenting on South Dakota MAGA’s feelings about change, any change.
“What will be will be with or without support from ‘ye.”
1.) Does America have millions of tons of lithium in reserves for the batteries to power all these cars?
2.) If not, who would we be dependent on for lithium? Lithium is renewable and sustainable right?
3.) Is lithium mining enviormentaly safe on such a large scale no matter where it’s done?
4.) After a few years, where are all these used batteries going to be disposed of or recycled? Sparcely populated flyover country maybe?
5.) Will the existing power grid be able to handle electric vehicles on a mass scale? We might need to add nuclear power plants to the mix.
6.) In ten years, what happens to all the aged EVs whose depreciated value is less than the cost of a battery replacement? $25K parts and labor.
7.) Is trading oil for lithium a good move?
8.) Does Elon Musk need to be richer?
One thing for certain about EV’s. they will get better and they will get cheaper.
Would have been great to listen to all the excuses nay-sayers came up with when they wanted to keep their horse and buggys instead of that new fangled contraption.
Electric cars are bunk and for you big city dwellers. Give me a throaty V8 and a 30 gallon tank of gas for a road trip any day over a cramped little Prius or toy car.
I have concerns about the emf and rf fields from these cars. But then, the building code’s accommodation for shielded wiring was bunk?
The part of the market that is still free chose gas cars and all the interdependent economies there with so critical to scalability. Up turning that apple cart will be very costly .. More so than the pinker haired nor miles realize.
Will forced electric cause mass human death that electric cars will be scalable one way or another?!
Normies
“Air Canada just bought a fleet of 30 electric planes that can fly 200km in all-electric mode.”
https://electrek.co/2022/09/16/air-canada-invests-heart-aerospace-orders-updated-versions-electric-airplane/
Lar, are you suggesting Ms. Noem needs one of those?