AND, where do these vehicles get their power sources from??? PLUS, the associated costs of installing a power station. You guessed it. Pollution generating power plants!!!! There was study done not so long ago comparing a Hummer vs. a Prius over the course of beginning to end which included production, etc. The Hummer was $1.99 a mile. The Prius was $4.99 a mile. Maybe one has gone up slightly since then & the other has come down slightly because of technology but, it's not even yet. Just my thoughts.
Fires in California are a natural occurance.. look up chaparrel forest biome.. it sets fire to itslelf ,,, the govt gets alot of money from it
My father worked for the US Forest Service ( which under the Department of Agriculture, because timber is a crop!) and tree huggers drove him crazy. They hated the scars and damage logging made, not realizing proper forest management healed quickly and helped prevent and lessen the impact of forest fires. As the logging bans took effect, his job fighting fires became ‘pour money on it while praying for rain’. Patrick
I think you need to do a little research on this - that report has been proved false a dozen times and that the data and theories they used were flawed - your post would classify as fake news
The few enviro nuts I have run into were really not too bad. But inevitably when the conversation turned to all the v8s in my driveway (specially the skylark) I told them to think really hard about human nature. I told them you know damn well as long as there are fossil fuels, powerful people controlling that infrastructure and lazy and uninspired the average person is then they will make sure it never goes away. I'm doing my part to make sure our future is electric cars by burning up all the gasoline as fast as I can!
I have a Volt and I absolutely love it. I know it has a gas engine for range extension, but I put so little mileage on it I never run out of charge/switch to the gas engine. In winter it runs great, there are only two complaints you could have. First the electric range does drop a bit in cold weather. It's a function of how cold it is. The cold negatively affects the battery so it doesn't hold as much charge. It also does not blast heat like a big V8 would. But with heated seats, I don't find it to be a problem. As someone mentioned before, the battery location gives the car a low center of gravity so no real problems driving in the snow.
With the talk of electrics, I am in hope that Buick will follow through an build their recently announced entry into the electric world. Just hope GM doesn't give it to another division, wouldn't be the first time.
Henry Ford's father was annoyed because Henry didn't like horses. Henry himself once said something to the effect that he didn't pay much attention to what people said they wanted, because they would have said "faster horses". The internal combustion powered automobile has been a great success for well over a century, but what works in a world with two billion Humans is not necessarily going to work in a world with eight billion of us. We cannot pave our way out of our transportation problems, and we will not be able to dig up enough dead Dinosaurs (I'm kidding) to fuel our way out of it either. Solar, geothermal, wind, and who knows what other kind of power are coming. Get used to it.
So for the electric vehicle peeps, who like the advantages of “greener”, let me put it into perspective a bit. First, like mentioned, when you plug one in, the electricity ain’t coming from a windmill or solar panel. Guess how the majority of the electricity is produced in his country? Next, let’s consider the cost of building one of these vehicles. Not the subsidies, but the cost in terms of damage to the planet. Much of the nickel needed for the manufacture of the batteries comes from Canada. Do a little search and see what happens when nickel is mined. It has made a huge environmental mess in Canada. Next, the nickel has to get on a dirty cargo ship, spew its way to China to get refined because China doesn’t give a rip about the environment. Next, back on a dirty cargo ship to Japan, where most of the batteries are made. And finally, a third ride in the dirty cargo ship gets the batteries back here, where they are actually put into service or as part of a car. Next is the cost to recycle. I’m sure battery recycling has come a long way, but more energy is consumed for the end-off-life than your traditional fossil fuel burning vehicle. I argued with a guy at a show about the Chevy Bolt, how “dirty” it truly is, and his reply finally was “it’s clean where it’s being used” lol. Incidentally, the Chevy Bolt currently (no pun intended) has a recall on the 1100 lb battery. R&R with new.
Dude, you are the RW version of the OPs brother. You think fossil fuel vehicles have no dark side? They all have their down sides. There is nothing wrong with alternative power sources. If you dont like it, dont buy one. But dont act like they are the end of the world
Dude, I never said they were the end of the world. When you start looking at things a little closer, EV’s are anything but clean.
Yepper. Bought the wife a Hybrid to save enough fuel and tires for the Riv. I love pulling up side by side with a Prius on the highway. The looks is priceless.
You mean, Garbonzo beans (Chick-peas) give you gas?!?!? I've always loved them. Therefore, I am a renewable energy source. Now I can tell my (RE)-Volt driving niece to STFU!
Well, i guess i will offer my input after working on cars for GM and Chrysler and have been an electrician for an even longer period of time. All vehicles have their own issues with global warming. Is global warming real, IMO yes but it has been blown out of proportion for greed. there is no denying we have not added to the carbon footprint with the last 120+ yrs of industrializing our planet. Is the ocean going to rise 30feet in the next couple decades? I doubt it. If anything we may find ourselves in another ice age. Now, the vehicles. I would not buy a hybrid. It would either be all gas or all electric. Why? Because they make gas cars just as efficient as the hybrid but you dont have this huge battery to worry about or a faulty control system controlling which system is priority. A gas car will be polluting and require maintenance of fossil fuels. Example: Prius gets what, 50mpg? My ex wifes Civic gasser got 46mpg. Car was cheaper and damn near as efficient. But the hybrid not only requires fossil fuel maintenance but has a large battery to charge and eventually need maintenance/disposal. The all electric car now recharges off the grid hence either coal or nuclear power. Still bad for the environment. But there is no fossil fuel maintenance and no pollution directly from the vehicle. Imagine having the head wrenching torque of a big block with no fill ups, no oil changes, no engine noise "although i love the exhaust rumble of a gas engine" and eventually a wicked AWD traction when they get these motors per wheel. So IMO there is no real answer. But if someone told me my vehicle was too big and dangerous i would tell them to pound it, especially if they live in a huge home. Talk about waste, lets talk about wasting wood products and the chemicals to preserve it. Lets talk about how the wood was logged off and shipped to and from the mills. How about the gasses put into the excess of glass in this huge home? How much insulation had to be made from toxic materials to keep him warm. Just how much fuel was consumed in just the trucking of materials for his home? Where did the drywall come from? He have laminate floors? How much gas is he consuming that those laminate floors are producing as they sit idle in his home? How many items does he buy shipped from overseas? Has he thought if this? These huge container ships run 24/7 crossing the pond sucking down what? 10-16 gallons of fuel per minute? Ships dont get MPG, they get gallons per minute! And does he think these ships are regulated for emmissions? Think about that for a minute. If the ship is only using 10 gallons per minute and takes 5 days to go one way thats 72,000 gallons of fuel. And he thinks he is going to save the world with a fart car!
I can always count on my Buick friends for their knowledge of the leading edge of automotive technology.
Most of the affordable electric cars are butt ugly. As for hybrids, there are a few I like, including the Volt. We purchase what we like and is most useful. the closest vehicle we have to a 'fossil fuel saver' is a Flex-fuel vehicle. We use E85. And, yes, we know it takes fossil fuel to grow crops. Everyone has an opinion, and a preference. It's when they try to belittle me for my choices, then try to push their beliefs on me, is when I tell them to "Piss off".
