willett

macdaddy85 said:

This is all fine and dandy, but who do you suppose will be buying electric cars when gas is $1 per gallon? It is headed that way, and it may be years before gas goes back up over $4 where it begins to make economic sense to drive an electric car. I am not referring to whether it is cool or fun to drive electric, It is, but it is a financial loser below $4 per gallon.

Let's say a gasoline car gets 30 MPG.  A typical electric gets 3.5 mi/kWh. So to drive the same 30 mi, the EV uses 8.6 kWh.  >95% of charging is done at home.  US residential retail electric costs 12.8¢/kWh.  So 30 miles of electric  driving is 8.6 *.128 = $1.10 on electric versus the current cost of gasoline in $/gallon.  

Of course a more complete economic and value analysis needs to include higher first cost, much lower maintenance cost, and longer life of EVs, the superior driving experience, and the convenience of not having to drive somewhere and babysit filling versus “tank is full every morning”, etc.  But the idea that EVs are a “financial loser below $4/gal” is just made up.  Break even is $1.10/gallon.  As a now-experienced EV driver, rest assured that gasoline can stay below $1/gal as long as you want, I’ll never buy another gas burner again.

The other important advantage of induction motor: no need for rare earth materials.  I bet Apple can handle the more complex motor drive (power electronics).

Great improvement.  I long wanted full width screen for articles and for comment.  

Also previously, there was a frequent bug where strings of comments appear a second time, weird.  I have not seen that recur in new version yet.

I logged in and got ads despite having pro subscription.  Log out completely and restart fixed it.  All:  Really worth the pro subscription fee to get whole screen used for content, no ads!

For those wanting to understand why this suit, first check who are the plantifs, (this quote from LA Times): "The states that filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia are Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming." Overlay that with a map of coal deposits of the United States and you'll see the connection. Some of the AGs are very explicit that this suit is to protect jobs at home. No utility would build a new coal power plant today, it is more expensive than natural gas in most places, more expensive than wind in Great Plains and coasts.  Massey, Peabody, etc and these coal states serving them are just trying to delay the inevitable closures, the longer they keep ancient generators running, the longer they can stretch out revenues from their sunk costs.  They know they already  lost, this is all about delay and rearguard action.  Look at their market cap if in doubt, e.g. Ticker BTU or ACIIQ for past 5 years. Apple and the other tech companies get it that the external costs are 2x market cost, and they get that tech continues to push wind cost down further below thermal generation. Weirdly, bloggers (here included)  mostly seem to soak up the ideological spin (right or left) and political news (MSNBC, FOX) and have no clue. If you want to understand what's going on, look at energy industry newsletters, EIA annual report on new electricity generation, etc. Notice that you can understand the trends and alliances without any reference to climate change, which is not the primary driver here, but is another nail in the coffin.