There is definitely a gas price that makes electric cars appealing to a larger percentage of the buying public, but our slow march to $4.00 a gallon over the last few weeks hasn’t yet done it yet. At least that’s what the data shows. This makes sense to me. It’ll require a longer period of elevated fuel prices in order to change behavior.
Automakers seem to feel the same way, with General Motors temporarily laying off employees in one of its electric car manufacturing plants as it waits out demand. I think that’s a product issue as much as an overall market issue, though. That isn’t stopping Volvo from helping Polestar produce more of its cars in South Carolina. If there’s anyone poised to benefit it’s BYD, which again has upped the amount of cars it expects to export this year to an impressively large number.
Also, tomorrow’s Morning Dump should come to you live from the New York International Auto Show, so it may be very early or very late.
Electric Vehicle Market Share Stays Low At 5.2% In March
Here’s a chart:
In the summer of 2022 I was out filming in California and I was shocked at the fuel prices, which were so high that my credit card hit its $100 limit before I could fully fill up the big tank on on my rented minivan. Gas prices have risen and fallen since, but mostly they’ve fallen. It’s been one of the areas of the economy that’s felt like it’s avoided inflation since late 2022.
Prices aren’t that bad yet but, according to GasBuddy.com, the national average gas price for the United States hit $4.00 per gallon yesterday. That’s the first time this has happened since the summer of 2022, and is a direct result of the conflict in the Middle East (the most recent one, at least). I’m not a fuel expert, though I did grow up in Houston, which is the next best thing. I don’t think people are quite prepared for how long the impacts could be and how unpredictable the various petroleum derivatives usually are. I hope I’m wrong.
I’ve already mentioned that consideration of “electrified vehicles” has gone up, but that also included hybrids. I don’t think the use case for hybrids has ever been stronger, though after a year of incredible growth in hybrid sales there’s probably only so much upside this year. Electric cars? That’s a harder sell, especially as automakers have cut back on production following the end of the Inflation Reduction Act tax credit and the ensuing pulling-forward of sales at the end of last year.
As you can see above in the chart from S&P Global Mobility, the share of EV car sales is down a lot from its peak above 12% in September, and off the pre-election climb towards 10%. Total sales for the market were down from nearly 1.6 million vehicles in March 2025 to an estimates 1.4 million this month. That is sticking with the expectation that this year’s car sales are going to be middling-to-bad given all the uncertainty. The EV market share barely stayed at 5% in March.
Viewed one way, this 5% market share is a sign that the overall appetite for electric cars is still rather small. Viewed another way, if you average out demand over the last couple of years, it ends up staying at a relatively consistent 7-8%.
The way I see it is that there’s probably more demand at a lower price point, and the vehicles suffering are going to be those priced at the higher end.
GM Temporarily Lays Off Factory Zero Workers, Because Who Really Wants An EV Hummer?
I’ve always liked the design of the Hummer, which appeals to a deeply East Texas part of me. Whenever I see the new Hummer EV I’m torn between appreciating the technology and the aesthetic, and remembering that it weighs 9,000 pounds. This is the maximalist approach to building an electric vehicle, and it hasn’t really worked for GM.
There are four vehicles that GM makes at its Factory Zero in Michigan on this basic platform (Silverado EV, Hummer EV, Sierra EV, Cadillac Escalade IQ), and I don’t think you could argue that any of them are particularly popular. So, the inevitable has happened. Per Reuters:
General Motors is idling its all-electric Factory Zero plant in Detroit until April 13, the company said, once again citing lower than anticipated demand for electric vehicles.
“Factory ZERO will temporarily adjust production to align EV production with market demand,” a GM spokesperson said on March 30. The temporary layoff affects 1,300 workers.
Employees were told March 13 that they would be placed on temporary layoff until April 13, GM confirmed to the Detroit Free Press.
It’s possible that prolonged gas prices will stoke demand for these trucks, though I think it’ll probably be better for vehicles like the Equinox EV and Blazer EV.
Volvo Will Reacquire Some Polestar To Pay For Production In The United States
The Polestar 3 is probably the best argument for Polestar continuing to exist in the United States, and a big reason is that it’s built in the United States. Volvo had been a major shareholder in Polestar, and then it gave its shares back to Geely (the Chinese parent company of both), and now it’s reacquiring shares. Why?
Again, from Reuters:
“Our strong operational collaboration with Volvo Cars continues through manufacturing, our commercial operations and offering our customers access to one of the most extensive service networks in the industry,” Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller said in the release.
Polestar currently produces its Polestar 3 model in Charleston, South Carolina and in Chengdu, China. Following the deal, it will discontinue production in China, where demand for the automaker’s cars is weak.
China-made vehicles also face high tariffs when exported to the U.S. and Europe. The automaker faces a 28.8 percent EU duty on China-made EVs, prompting it to diversify manufacturing. It will also make its Polestar 7 at Volvo’s factory in Slovakia.
It’s not good enough for China, but maybe it’s good enough for America!
BYD Is Loving This
China is the biggest market for electric cars, but it’s also the most competitive. A drawing down of incentives by the Chinese government should start to help rationalize the massive overcapacity issues, eventually, though the best way to deal with a glut of domestic production is to export. BYD had already been at the forefront of this, expanding in Europe, Latin America, and now Canada.
The Iran War was already boosting the company’s share prices, so the company’s leadership sees even more exports, as reported by Nikkei Asia:
Founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu told analysts at a closed-door briefing on Monday that skyrocketing oil prices are expected to push BYD’s overseas sales to “another level” this year, according to multiple people familiar with the session. Wang singled out markets such as Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, where he said daily sales volumes are now as high as what the carmaker could previously sell in two weeks.
The automaker has raised its annual overseas sales target to 1.5 million cars, a 15% jump from a previous goal of 1.3 million units, Wang informed analysts last week and repeated at Monday’s event. The company did not immediately respond to Nikkei Asia’s request for comment.
The chairman’s remarks — which reflect a jump in oil from around $60 a barrel at the beginning of the year to over $100 due to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz in the Iran war — will buoy hopes for a turnaround powered by overseas markets after a disappointing 2025.
Another quirk of energy markets is that producers will happily sell your petroleum product to someone else so fast that they’ll literally turn the boats around to divert to more profitable ports. While consumers in some places, like Europe, will pay the highest price, other consumers will see actual demand destruction. It’s a perfect opening for an EV exporter.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
My favorite thing about A Tribe Called Quest playing “Check the Rhime” on The Late Show With David Letterman is that, contractually, the Late Show band has to also play on the song, so you get the live horns and drums. It’s actually kinda great.
The Big Question
How high does gas have to get, and for how long, to get EV share above 10%?
Top graphic images: DepositPhotos.com; Tesla
My daily commute is 10-12 miles — depending on route — round trip. In my car, that’s easily less than a gallon of gas a day; it’s less than the cost of a bus or subway fare, and I own the car outright. The weather’s getting better, too, so I’ll be riding my 40+ mpg motorcycle and my 70+ mpg vespa more, too. I feel for all the people out there with super-long commutes who have larger, fuel-hungry vehicles, and the two-hour-plus commuters may find themselves eyeing something more efficient. Then again, with long daily commutes like that, I’d expect they’d look at a hybrid before an electric.
One day I might find myself in or astride an electric vehicle, but it’s going to be because I want a new vehicle, not because of fuel prices. Fuel availability is another, but I think bigger, issue here: can I even top up my tank? That would push me to an electric faster.
I do very well with my Chevrolet Bolt EUV but I have cheap electricity, charge it at home over 99% of the time and put over 30,000 miles per year on it.
When faced with an affordability crisis, people will buy whatever is smaller and cheaper. And in the US, we don’t have many small and cheap EVs that are desirable. Personally, I really want a Renault 5 E-Tech. I’ve never owned an EV and the fact that the 5 is an EV really doesn’t matter. Funky styling, right sized, fun to drive, physical HVAC controls. I wouldn’t buy an EV to save the planet or to further technological progress. I would buy a car, any car, if it’s something I want. It’s that simple.
I will get an EV as a third car, around town driver, when there are cheap used ones that have better batteries than old leafs with less than 100 miles.
Used Bolts are around $10k, used Equinox EVs are around $20k. I’m sure in a couple of years they’ll drop some more but the batteries seem to be good for well over 250k miles in the GM models
I am not ready to bite, there are only 4 bolts within 100 miles and only 1 under 20K used cars are not unlimited inventory and evenly spaced around the country.
Understandable. Like I said, they’re only going to keep coming down in price, especially as newer ones get longer ranges and more efficient batteries.
You’ll soon find that the “3rd” car will become the “1st” car of choice for just about any trip within the battery range. We thought the same when we got our first EV – then within a week it was our go-to in the stable.
It only really hits you the first time you drive past your favorite gas station. Then it hits home.
My neighbor who’s a mysterious guy in a hideous, 7 figure ground up custom house who owns multiple peacocking vehicles (including a Tesla Model X in a hideous matte wrap) got a Hummer EV recently and boy has he been enjoying waving his 9,000 pound wang around. I remember when we got the awful ice storm a couple months ago he was just doing laps around the neighborhood in it testing all the off road modes.
On one hand, I am certain I don’t want to hear anything he has to say about social issues…but on the other I almost begrudgingly respect that he’s at least trying to use his 5 ton rolling penis as intended? A bit? Anyway I’m always surprised that they’re not bigger in person. You really wouldn’t guess they weigh as much as they do if you were to come across one without knowing what it is.
They’re not THAT outlandish in person but they’re still certainly not something I’d ever want to bee seen in *Dennis Reynolds voice* because of the implication. Anyway what we have to keep in mind with the whole gas prices and EV thing is that American consumers are reactionary, they don’t read any of the fine print, and they are hardwired to consume consume consume consume.
It doesn’t matter that there isn’t much of a financial case to own a BEV right now even with higher gas prices. What matters are vibes and constantly consuming. The average person in this third world county in a fancy pair of cowboy boots only owns a car for something like 3-5 years anyway and all they care about is how low the monthly payment finance can put in front of them is.
Add in “oh shit it’s costing way more to fill up muh RAM than it used to” and people are going to impulsively make the switch as soon as their leases are up or they get bored of the car they bought in 2023 or whatever. With that in mind, I think we’ll see the market share grow gradually…although as always hybrids will continue to eat, because now that BEVs are the culture war red meat and hybrids have found their way to every class of vehicle the stigma they used to carry is more or less gone.
Plus, you know…marketing. It’s not a hybrid, bro. It’s a POWERBOOST and it’s very manly!
As someone who had the “pleasure” of selling Hummer EVs, can confirm that your neighbor is the target demographic for it. It was honestly a great way to get GMs EV program to start making money. The #1 reason why people who wanted one and could afford it didn’t buy was the lack of a 3rd row option. So many soccer moms wanted it to tote Breydun, Ceylib, and Chamomile to rugby, water polo and lacrosse
I can respect someone that is not afraid to goon their vehicle around in an ice storm, as long as nobody gets hurt.
Enthusiasts come in all shapes I guess.
That’s exactly where I wound up. I went from “lmao look at this peacocking bozo” to “well hey at least he’s driving it as god intended and not making it a parking lot princess”
My 96 bronco gets about 10mpg. I live in a state though where gas is about $3.50 currently. It got almost to $5 back in 2022. Gas prices will come back down eventually. I might purchase a 3 grand honda civic if it gets too bad but why would I purchase a new EV for 50k? It would take 20 years to offset the cost. And when gas prices come back down I can turn around and sell the civic probably for what I paid for it.
Unless you have some ridiculous long commute (like I do nearing 100 miles a day) and were driving something get 15mpg (like I was) there never seems to be a practical sense to just out right but a new vehicle because fuel prices increased. Also if you were already in the market for a new car or you are trading in something that doesn’t get good fuel economy but held it’s value well then it could make sense.
You have to be a perpetual new/nearly new car buyer for it to make sense. If you’re going from a no car payment situation to financing, the cost delta is almost never in your favor.
New EV sales will struggle especially in the out-the-door price range of $50K or more. I don’t see NEW EV sales getting to 10% in the next 2 year or so because the market will favor used.
Used EV sales will boom as supply goes up with the off-lease EVs coming to market this year.
It really all comes down to churn. I don’t think there will be many who sell or trade a perfectly good ICE just to get an EV, BUT as vehicles are replaced due to age, miles and condition, the market will heavily favor the gently used, pre-depreciated EV.
In the past year we picked up a new 25 Ford Escape PHEV for $26K had a sticker of $52, and now a ’24 Hyundai Ionic 6 AWD Limited long-range sedan (CPO) with less than 7,000 miles on it (and LOTs of warranty left) for $28K – it had a sticker of $56K when new.
All new cars instantly become used cars once they’re driven off the lot. Seems like a no-brainer to get a nice EV with tons of features and performance for 1/2 off !
I’ll need a new car in the next year or so and I’m giving those Ionic 6 are hard look. I think they’re cool looking and the used prices are mighty tempting.
We had a 23 bolt EV and a 23 bolt euv in the stable . The Ioniq 6 is a luxury grand tourer compared to them. Bolts were great but we sold the euv premium last year to caravana for 24k (12k miles on it) and picked up the 24 Ioniq 6 AWD (4.6 secs 0-60) with only 7 k miles, lots more features, twice the performance for only a little more. CPO and already had the ICCU upgrade. They’re great deals with excellent warranties. My neighbor thought I bought a Porsche!
While the headline is “GM idles EV plant”, it’s missing the important “GM idles expensive truck plant” subtext.
Granted EV interest has wained since the expiration of the government handout, but I think the bigger issue might be even the relatively rich people are now pulling back on vehicle purchases.
More like ” GM idles a plant we should have never made”. Imagine if it was all Bolts made there??
The people rushing to sell their Canyonero to buy a Tesla when gas hits $4 a gallon also sell every time the market is down and paid for the heated seat feature.
While I am 110% against this nonsensical war fiasco, I am going to say that fuel prices will rise and remain elevated until the next distraction comes up. It’s not a permanent thing.
If you run the numbers, switching to an EV (even from my 16 mpg beast) won’t make sense at $4, $5, or $6 a gallon. The car loan, additional taxes, and insurance make it a non-starter. I’m addicted to petrol.
How high does gas have to get, and for how long, to get EV share above 10%?
As much as I want to see EVs become more popular, I hope it never happens in response to gas prices. I have said it before and I will continue to say it: EVs save gas, not necessarily money. If you are buying a new EV because gas went up by $1.00 per gallon, you are bad at math. If you are buying a new EV because gas went up to $15 per gallon, we are probably all screwed by whatever calamity caused gas to go up this much.
We would be better off letting the transition happen gradually as technology and infrastructure make EVs more convenient than ICE vehicles. In 2026, EVs are already more convenient for a lot of drivers (filling up at home is nice, as is the reliability and lack of routine maintenance) – when these drivers find EVs, they probably won’t go back.
The more people that go EV, the more others will consider EV for their next car but it’s admittedly crazy to expect people to try something new and more expensive when money is tight for people all the way around. They are much more likely to get a Corolla Hybrid new for $25k instead of the Nissan Leaf EV for $32k. $7k buys a lot of gas
The one thing I would add is that the math looks very different for used EVs. A $25k Corolla hybrid is going to make far more financial sense than any new EV. However, a $12k used EV could make more sense than the Corolla for some buyers. It is easy to find a used EV in the $10-$14k range that will provide years of cheap, reliable transportation.
This is why I think EV adoption will work itself out in time. Right now, the used EV market is still small. As the secondhand EV market increases, more people will consider EVs.
Absolutely, I did that myself. I got a used 2025 Equinox EV last Halloween with 19k miles on it for $19,500. I couldn’t get a used Rav4 hybrid for those numbers so I went for it. I absolutely love it.
If you are buying a new EV instead of buying a new ICE car because gas went up by $1.00 per gallon, then good for you.
I don’t know why these articles always have people assuming that a bunch of dumbasses are rushing out to buy EVs when they wouldn’t have otherwise spent money on a new car. I guess an insignificant percentage of people may be doing that, but if the statistic being recorded is “people who were planning to buy a vehicle”, then we can’t infer anything beyond that.
I would say that if you are shopping for a new car and you do NOT consider fuel costs in your purchase, then you are either rich or misguided.
If you are buying a new EV instead of buying a new ICE car because gas went up by $1.00 per gallon, then good for you.
To be honest, I don’t even agree with this statement. Between the higher sale price and severe depreciation seen with new EVs, gas would have to be unavailable before it is likely to be a good financial decision to buy an EV over a new ICE vehicle (again, the math is very different with used EVs).
Gas prices go up, but gas prices also go down. Gas was less than $2.50 for a number of years in the 2010s and even cheaper during the COVID era. Realistically, gas prices will decline substantially when the war in Iran ends. Given the mercurial behavior of the current administration, that might happen in two years or later this afternoon.
I would say that if you are shopping for a new car and you do NOT consider fuel costs in your purchase, then you are either rich or misguided.
I agree with this statement 100%. It doesn’t take long to run the numbers with various gas prices both high and low. While buying a new EV probably won’t make sense in any realistic scenario, buying a hybrid or smaller ICE vehicle probably makes a lot of sense if you are already in the market for a new vehicle anyway.
The Hummer EV was doomed the moment the Cybertruck showed up and split the very limited Peacocking D-Bag buyer pool.
I see Hummer EV’s in the Detroit Metro area and nowhere else.
Higher, and for longer, than 2022 for sure.
It bears repeating that gas prices are prominent and have an outsized cultural impact, but for the type of person who can afford to switch to a $50,000 EV on a whim, they just don’t have that big an impact on a household’s bottom line.
Even at $5 a gallon, trading in a 20 mpg vehicle driven 20,000 miles a year (high end estimates of everything compared to most people), an EV is a 10 year payback without adding any cost for the electricity itself. It basically never makes sense to switch for financial reasons alone.
For personal use? Correct. The financial incentive isn’t there. You make the switch because you’re environmentally conscious, you enjoy the driving experience more, it’s more convenient than gas for your particular situation, you really like a particular EV for whatever reason, etc.
There really isn’t much financial upside to move to an EV if you’re just buying a car for yourself or your family. They do make an interesting case as fleet vehicles, however. I’d imagine that the cost savings are a lot more significant when you’re operating many of them rather than just one and a lot of places have assorted tax breaks in place/businesses have things they can write off/etc.
Yeah. Fleet vehicles make a lot more sense if you know it will be lower mileage use primarily.
Here in DC all the local government vehicles are moving to EVs and in that context it makes perfect sense. What does not make perfect sense is our government wasting tax payer money on Rivian R1s…
Heck yeah, something making short trips all day with a dedicated lot for them to ‘sleep’ at night so they can charge? EV all the way.
Given the current landscape of vehicles and the economy, I don’t think gas prices alone is going to cut it because even gas prices doubling probably won’t financially justify offloading an ICE vehicle for an EV for the average commuter (unless you were already planning on getting rid of your current vehicle).
That being said: higher gas prices may help push more people into EVs and hybrids, but cheaper EVs and less annoying charging stations could also pump those numbers up.
Gas around $5.00 (Midwest) for the whole summer will start making people think twice about their driving habits and next car purchase. I started to notice people not doing +80mph as before.
Its costing me around $1.50 to drive to work (30 miles) on electricity but since I have free chargers at work, I usually get as much juice as I can to make the round trip on their dime. Commuters cars like the Chevy Bolt are the perfect formula for daily driving, I leave my gas cars for weekends duty.
Once gas went above $3 in my area, I started seeing more people driving the speed limit or 5 below on the highway.
I’ll do the hot take and say people aren’t buying EVs because they are insulated enough from the rising cost to not be bothered by the higher gas prices, or they can’t afford any car purchase at all and are getting bled dry by the rising gas prices with no way out.
Absolutely. I’m fortunate enough to be in the first camp but dropping 5 figures on a used Bolt that I can’t charge at home isn’t a financially wise choice. Just eating the costs and keeping RPMs in the sweet spot for better fuel economy.
Imagine a world, if you will, where we didn’t pay companies $1 billion to NOT build offshore wind, but instead our country didn’t have the collective brain damage necessary to throw away a domestic energy market that was independent of a single strait controlled by an adversary that we were apparently willing to provoke with little to no planning
You can’t exploit wind, solar, and hydro to the shareholders benefit, so you shut them down. Because logic, duh.
All of this just helps sell my ultimate household plan to my wife: Solar + battery backup, with EV daily drivers.
I would really like to do a solar and battery setup but I can’t bring myself to spend the money on it at this point. Maybe I should just start buying the stuff for it piecemeal over time.
There’s a $5k rebate, and a 10-year 0% gov’t-backed loan for the balance.
Our grid is flaky, and the wife wants a backup generator, I’d rather just go green and have backup power in silence, while also cutting down on the electricity bill.
That a federal or state backed loan? I really should look at getting into solar as my work is removing the free EV chargers later this year and Nipsco has been screwing us over on our electric rates (at like 22 cents a kw/hr while my dad in illinois is only at like 10 cents)
Federally backed loan, Provincial incentive. I’m in Ontario, Canada.
Ah you damn lucky Canadians haha yeah seems solar here in the US is a state by state thing and a company by company so provides give nice incentives or for someone like my NIPSCO gives nothing and won’t even buy excessive electric back.
The Feds also restarted our EV incentive, so I’ll be shopping this fall.
If only Canada was south of us…
There uses to be federal solar incentives bf the current executive administration
That’s what we did, solar in 2015 and battery in 2021 (I think). It’s great. Honestly though, it feels like vehicle-to-home is so close to being affordable that I might wait on the battery part. If some manufacturer can figure out a way to make the bi-directional charging cheap enough and easy enough to install, that is a huge selling point
Three years ago, my wife and I went full EV. Home solar with batteries came last year. It’s nice knowing that as long as the sun shines, we can harvest enough electrons to drive and power the house. Basically from mid-March until mid-October, we can disconnect from the grid.
Electric rates will go up because of the war with Iran. Some of the LNG Qatar can’t export will be replaced by US exports. That will drive up prices domestically. ~40% of our electricity comes from natural gas. Hopefully we don’t see the natural gas markets break the 2022 records, but it’s possible if this war goes on too long.
We’re big on hydro power and nuclear here in Ontario, but no matter what costs are going to climb.
If I install a system here, I’ve essentially locked-in my energy costs for as long as the system lasts.
$7.00 a gallon for four months.
That means $10 diesel.
Yep.
The EV market share question is really interesting and really complex to try to sort out. I suspect we’ll see a sharp 1-3% uptick by May or June should gas prices stay this high, but getting to 10% is a different story. Production has scaled down as demand has dwindled, and while some plants like GMs Factory Zero could restart quickly by not doing temporary layoffs, most other plants are going to take much much longer to raise production. Supply chains have long term contracts, and a sudden doubling is very non-trivial.
My back of the napkin math with sources of “I made it the f-up” tell me it would take $4+ per gallon gas through December to get close to 10% new car EV market share for both demand and production/inventory. That said, I would also speculate that should gas stay at $4+ that we will see EV incentives and discounts shrink to on-par with ICE vehicle incentives by August. Again, all speculation, but I think there is a serious number of consumers with little positive to negative equity in new ICE vehicles and leases that are going to be on their financial limit that will happily trade in for an EV if the estimation of fuel costs shows a substantial decrease, even more so for luxury buyers that are stuck with $5+ premium gas.
Even if you didn’t care about emissions, which you should, but that’s an aside. How does anyone still think it is a good idea to have the entire energy market dependent on a resource that is so easily disrupted and controlled by a relatively small number of organizations that are either greedy or unstable? Why are there so many people that think any energy that isn’t pumped out of the ground is evil?
I’d hate to tell you where a huge amount of electricity comes from….
That’s kinda my point. There are people working tirelessly to kneecap renewable or advances in nuclear.
The current administration is paying over 1 billion in taxpayer funds to save us from construction of an evil offshore windmill farm.
Not including homeowner rooftop PV solar, see below.
January 16, 2026
Solar power generation drives electricity generation growth over the next two yearshttps://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/images/2026.01.16/main.svg
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, January 2026
They have a graph showing the shift from one energy type to another. Coal is fast becoming a thing of the past.
Texas and California have the highest renewables.
But this is also in our control.
For less than the cost of a “military operation” in the middle east, we could add enough renewable sources to reduce fossil fuel-based generation to just the high consumption periods. Which is idle because they’re quickly spun up and down.
Someone should point out to those people that nuclear fuel comes out of the ground as does geothermal energy
“Powered by volcanoes”. Gotta nice ring to it doesn’t it?
One of my favorite memes ever is Patchy the pirate from SpongeBob looking enraged with the caption “THAT’S NUCLEAR POWER? That was just boiling water!”
Nuclear is the answer to many problem, but it does sound way more metal than it actually is. Although maybe this knowledge will help people be less fearful of it.
You’re now being sent to die in Iran because the Soviets messed up boiling water once.
Wonder if rebranding solar power as nuclear fusion power would work as well.
*Star Power*
I saw a video on fusion power recently where the top comment was something along the lines of “Wouldn’t it be great if we had a giant self-sustaining ball of fusion nearby that we could harness for energy?”
It’s not about the alternate energy sources being evil – it’s about protecting the near monopoly on dinofuel (which actually is evil energy).
Potato potato it all depends on how you look at it. First the oil is already in the ground removing it is cleaning a polluted area up. And since it comes from dinosaurs an argument can be made for using it is recycling.
Borrowing from the famous “pieces of flare” bit from Office Space, it’s not how I look at all that recycled carbon rejoining the atmosphere, it’s how the Earth looks at all that freshly recycled carbon rejoining the atmosphere.
And the Earth seems to be getting a little hot over the issue.
Sorry the prediction of the new ice age made in the 70s didn’t happen. The prediction of all the polar ice melting in the 90s didn’t happen. Now calling it climate change, which it does every day has not scared me in the least. Science has shown that through the entire existence of the planet earth it alternates between Ice Age and Tropical age on a 15,000 year basis. That’s goes back millions of years before man walked on the planet. We may kill our species off but Earth will be fine
That’s like saying pulling trash out of a disposal site and spreading around the neighborhood is “cleaning a polluted area up.”
Nope you are not using it if you just spread it around. The oil is being used in everything. Now if you create a trash mulch product people buy then yes it is recycling. Just like shredded tires on a playground
I wouldn’t consider pumping oil from deep underground as “cleaning a polluted area up”. Oil sequestered deep underground, especially deep under the sea was bothering nobody for millions of years before humanity found it useful. Oil at the surface however was a different story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits
Now THAT shit is dangerous!
I’m sorry are you joking about oil extraction being clean up? I don’t think we need to spend too much time “cleaning” naturally occurring substances from subterranean spaces. Even if it were (IT’S NOT), we are then combusting the fuels and spewing the by-products into the air.
Yes
Someday in the future people are going to realize that the best way to sequester carbon is as a pure solid.
(e.g. as coal.)
Not only has that been proven to remain stable in the ground for hundreds of millions of years it is (AFAIK) the most space efficient form of carbon* and does not tie up any oxygen.
*OK maybe diamonds eke out that title but good luck making trillions of tons of those just to stick in the ground.
If we could pull carbon out of the atmosphere and make diamonds to enable us to also put Debeers out of business, I could get behind that from an investment POV.
Done, done and done:
https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/the-synthetic-diamond-bubble-has-burst/
This article IMO is more wishful thinking by the diamond industry than anything. When even experts can’t easily tell the difference between a $200 synthetic and an identical looking $2000 natural stone the only motivation to spend that extra $1800 is the delusion that dirt stones are somehow better.
I want to go ahead and apologize to everyone because there always seems to be an auto industry crisis when I buy a new car. I got a great deal on an EV a month ago and gas prices immediately started going through the roof. This was my first time in the market since December 2019, right before COVID decimated the auto industry. I will try to give everyone a heads up the next time I am car shopping so you can all prepare for whatever crisis is about to hit.
I took a look on Autotrader, and it’s not like used EV prices are going up
If that is true then it is still a good time to scoop one up! I love my Lyriq. I would say after just checking that most used Lyriq trims (once you weed out the buyback/lemon resellers) seem to be priced 5-10% higher than they were when I was actively shopping.
My friend got a Lyriq and it makes the interior of my Volvo seem totally lame. They are nice looking cars!
I had never considered EV’s much, I don’t hate them or the idea, they just never interested me.
Then I read about the Slate yesterday & if it would stay in the low-mid $20k with a few additions, I’d really consider one. 150 miles is plenty for me, I can charge in my garage every night like a cellphone, my round trip to work 5 days a week is 54 miles.
I have 3 other fun cars to buy gas for, just less often.
TBQ gas prices are only one factor in the equation. EV prices, electricity prices, range and reliable, readily available charging options also need to be considered.
+ insane EV depreciation
Highly dependant on market. They hold their value reasonably well here in Quebec.
I would agree with that in my logic for vehicle purchasing, but I don’t think a significant portion of new car buyers don’t think about most of those factors. As a society we haven’t gotten to the point of $1.67T in car debt by making informed and rational purchasing decisions.
I’ve met a guy that wanted an EV in 2022 so he went in and bought at MSRP an ID.4, without even doing any research. He quickly came to find out that in northern NJ it can’t actually meet his needs for ~5 months of the year due to range loss in cold, and has depreciated faster than anyone thought possible.
For every one of us Autopians with an encyclopedic knowledge of the car market, there’s 100+ normal people who don’t even know how to calculate the finance cost of a new car purchase, much less total cost of ownership. That’s a whole different problem, but I think it does point to the likelihood of a lot of impulse/panic EV purchases in the coming months.
I would argue that there are other large factors that play into the lack of EV adoption:
1) Mostly high cost of entry for new EV’s. This is slowly trending down.
2) Insane depreciation. Why would someone eat the depreciation cost when a hybrid is a better blend of better resale and efficiency?
3) Fill up times. Filling up with gas is quicker at this time (yes you can fill up at home, but a huge percentage of Americans cannot do this).
If EVs can reduce fill up times and keep the depreciation in check, they’ll become more popular.
Side note: Most EVs are kind of lifeless blobs. The Rivian R2 is the best effort of mixing American tastes with good range and performance for a good price. I bet these will sell incredibly well. I think Ford needs an EV Maverick too!
“Most EVs are kind of lifeless blobs”
Most people don’t care about that. “Appliance” is only a slur to small subset of buyers.
To clarify, so many Americans want a car that projects what they can do and not what they actually need it for. This is why lifted, tougher looking crossovers and SUV’s sell so well (Crosstrek, 4runner, etc.). Most EVs sacrifice offroad/softroad chops and boxy styling for efficiency. Rivian seems to be one exception. I think that’s why even non-EV fans want Rivian to succeed.
IIHO its also that buyers don’t want to be ignored or thought of as weak.
The sales.talk promises never utilized utility sure but also attention and respect. I think THAT is a bigger factor in convincing someone to pay more for less.
The funny thing is a Model Y can do everything a RAV4 or similar can do. Mostly better, honestly. It doesn’t “look like it can”, though. Too true about people wanting to project an image instead of being attuned to their needs.
Perhaps. Cars an extension of their owners. Rav4 owners and Model Y owners are often quite different, despite the cars being similar in use. Model Y people want to be seen as eco-conscious, early adaptors, or tech-forward. Rav4 owners want to be seen as reliable, under the radar, conventional, or even outdoorsy (depending on the trim).
I have one of each. The Y was cheaper to run at $2.50 gas. At $4 gas it’s an easy choice.
Most gas cars are lifeless blobs as well to be fair