I drove an electric vehicle, and here is my impression

[beechnut79]

(03-11-2022, 11:38 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I can easily imagine Corporate America... and tax authorities... adjusting. At some point, when electric cars become commonplace the states will need to tax energy used by a consumer in his car (generally a good proxy for wear-and-tear on roads), impose shadow tolls for miles used (which would be the same for a dirt road as for a high-cost expressway), raise registration fees (or link those to miles used) as a substitute for highway taxes.

With government services of any kind one pays one way or the other. I might find a way in which to avoid a dollar-per-mile toll, but I wouldn't dodge three cents per mile (which is roughly the gas tax per mile in Michigan). How the states and municipalities exact taxes is ideally a wash.

I can imagine businesses now selling gasoline to sell electric power. Businesses either adjust to novel technology and consumer trends or die. (Most gas stations in America are also convenience stores that nearly break even on motor fuels but make their money off snacks, sodas, beer, cancerettes, etc. Restaurants could offer "Eat here and recharge your car here" as you recharge the battery outside while dining inside. So could hotels and motels. Convenience is precious for anyone who has no desire to waste time.

Lithium is of course recyclable... is there a viable and cheap substitute, like calcium metal? Calcium is about as reactive as lithium, but it is also heavier. It is also far cheaper than lithium.

Paragraph by paragraph response:

P1:  I believe there is much here that remains to be seen. Sooner or later the gasoline engine is bound to go the way of the rotary telephone, but those of us who are now seniors may not be around long enough to see it. One poster here not too long ago stated that the car culture needs to go if we are to ever get serious about global warming. But will it? I for one highly doubt it. It has been nearly half a century since we had our best shot at it, during that dreadful gas shortage when interest in expanding mass transit briefly surged.

P2:  In Illinois where I am at, our tollways were supposed to become freeways once the original bonds were paid off. Never happened.

P3:  The first sentence is a hard lesson Sears had to learn. Their last store in Illinois closed late last year before the holiday shopping season took hold. Middle sentence is that the gas station attendant has also gone the way of the rotary telephone everywhere except New Jersey and Oregon. Spent a few years in the former and they only pump gas and don't check oil levels and clean windshield ala your attendants of the past. Last sentence is something we must sacrifice a little bit if we are ever to get serious about climate change. At least since the end of WWII, each generation has demanded more convenience than the previous one enjoyed, most recent example being the explosion in food delivery.

P4:  Will need to pass here because it's something I really don't know anything about.