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Many Voices, One Freedom: United in the 1st Amendment

March 29, 2024

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If you were born before 1945, you might remember that shortly after World War II, the dream of the future was to travel from our homes in the helicopter parked on our roofs. Today you may laugh at this, knowing the traffic problems in the air above and the complexity of flying a helicopter. Predicting success for the widespread use of electric cars is only a shade more ridiculous for so many reasons. But there are enough of them in our neighborhoods to make them appear reasonable. Regardless, they are not the cars of the future to occupy even double-digit percentages of automobiles filling our roads.

Given all the hype over renewable sources to generate intermittent electricity., the numbers from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) support none of the biased hype. Fossil fuels dominate today’s energy mix and are projected to do so for at least a decade, as shown in the figure below. Yet over the past four decades, billions have been spent on solar, wind, corn, and other biofuels, not to mention electric cars.

The result of all this investment has been only a modest gain in market share. Part of this is the significant number of other lifestyle products derived from petroleum. EIA has calculated that they number over 6000. An added disadvantage is that renewables have no role in the military, or for airlines, cruise ships, or supertankers.

While conspiracy theorists may prefer to believe that big oil, coal, and nuclear have stifled the growth of renewables, it is not so. Only coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear can satisfy the four energy imperatives, power density, energy density, cost, and scale. Renewables fall woefully short of meeting these requirements.

The biggest impediment to the growth of electricity generated by wind and solar is the newly coined Ciccione/Lehr Rule of Thumb, which states, “All wind and solar power on the electric grid must be backed up by an equal or greater amount of fossil fuel power running on standby 100% of the time”.

Let’s turn our attention to the most overlooked source of energy coming to the fore daily, that which powers so-called electric cars. California plans to have over 25 million such vehicles in the not too distant future. The utility companies have thus far had little to say about the alarming cost projections or the certainly increased rates that will be required to charge their customers. It is not just the total amount of electricity required but the transmission lines and fast charging capacity that must be built at existing filling stations. Neither wind nor solar can support any of it.

A Canadian engineer recently ran the numbers involved in the switchover to electric vehicles and concluded that in order to match the 2000 cars that a typical filling station can service in a busy 12 hours, the filling station would require 600, 50-watt chargers at an estimated cost of $24 million and a supply of 30 megawatts of power from the grid which would be enough to power 20,000 homes. Unlike home recharging stations, these would be operating at peak usage hours where the rates are the highest. Basically, new grids will need to be built at the cost of billions. Can you spell brownout and blackout?

No one likely thinks about the fact that it can take between 30 minutes and 8 hours to recharge a vehicle, depending on it being empty or just topping off. They will need lounge areas, holding areas for vehicles completed but waiting for owners to return from shopping or dining.

There is no question that electric vehicles have some positive attributes, low refueling costs, no air pollutants at the point of use, and quiet operation, but are they actually clean and green as their marketing insists. They have no tailpipes, as we know, on the car, but immense exhausts miles away. Aren’t they really coal or natural gas cars? They are certainly not wind and solar cars.

Here are the 5 quick reasons electric cars will never be a thing:

Regardless of their promise, they continue to be hampered by their long-standing drawbacks, (1) extra costs, (2) limited range, (3) slow recharge rates, (4) lack of recharging stations and a (5) relatively short battery life with a high replacement cost against the life cycle of the average internal combustion-engined car.

Although the modern lithium-ion battery is four times better than the old lead-acid battery, gasoline holds 80 times the energy density. The great lithium-ion battery in your cell phone weighs less than an ounce, while the Tesla battery weighs 1000 pounds.

Do we still think electric cars are the wave of the future? They are not and never will be. 

Note: Portions of this article have been excerpted from the book Energy Made Easy with the permission of the authors Ronald Stein and Todd Royal. Their book is highly recommended for tremendous detail about the world’s energy.

MANY VOICES, ONE FREEDOM: UNITED IN THE 1ST AMENDMENT

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Steve
Steve
2 years ago

A few other reasons; dead battery anywhere but at recharge station is automatic towing or portable charger if available at premium rate as volts cannot be carried in a can like fossil fuels; Stuck in a blizzard on the interstate? good luck, your heater runs off the battery that powers the car and cannot be recharged at just any old gas station; just got home from work and have a dinner date – no time for a recharge, if even allowed at that time of day, oops, cancel dinner date. All trips must be carefully planned around recharging sites or canceled for lack thereof.

Matt A
Matt A
2 years ago

Here’s one: nearly 40% of homes in the US don’t have a garage or other place to house a home charging station. Who’s buying an electric car if they have nowhere to charge it overnight?

Jack Bergeron
Jack Bergeron
Reply to  Matt A
2 years ago

Not only is there no place to charge it overnight, but few have the electricity available to charge a single vehicle without an upgrade to their electric service.

Jack Bergeron
Jack Bergeron
2 years ago

So why the big push to eliminate internal combustion engines? It seems almost everybody (including the legislators, the vehicle manufacturers and the green earthers) have been duped? Is there a sinister plot behind all this?

Renee J
Renee J
2 years ago

Thank you for this article. We own a small chain of convenience stores / gas stations and I must tell you that it is a difficult time for us. Our businesses are doing good but we see EV commercials every night on TV, we hear all the rumblings… our logic tells us this is pandering (to what end I couldn’t say). I remember this being a push back in the Obama era as well. Regardless, this article was very insightful and gives a broader perspective than what we see every day in Midwest, small-town America. Thank you!

Soundsailor
Soundsailor
2 years ago

EV’s only move the POLLUTION from a Tail Pipe…to the Stacks of Fossil Fuel Power Plants…….only 12-15% of Power Plants are cleaner energies….Solar, Wind, Hydro……It’s a SCAM….Solar only when SUN SHINES….Wind Power only when the wind blows and it’s not Winter Freezing the Turbine Blades to a STOP…ie Texas….Hydro has diminished….Power Grids can not hand millions of Chargers, we already have brown and blackouts!!! Don’t be fooled…do not buy a Electric!!

Joe Schrengohst
Joe Schrengohst
2 years ago

Those who promote electric cars totally discount the cost of the increased infrastructure that will be required to support them, the amount of fossil fuels needed to supply that electricity, and the amount of scarce minerals required to manufacture all the batteries. Plus, if you run out of electricity n the road, it’s pretty hard to fill up a can of it and bring it to you.

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