I apologize for the delayed response, busy week and "take liberals seriously" is a hard thing to fit into my schedule sometimes.
Woah buddy, BIG feelings!
I live in Canada lol, 300 miles isn't a whole lot and you're highballing ranges based on luxury cars, the Bolt gets maybe 230 miles out of a full charge. That's not even enough to navigate half the SLL. You're arguing with someone whose family works in automotive lol.
I live in Maine lol, this is Canada but instead of hockey we just don't have healthcare. We have moose, snow, maple syrup etc. For a daily driver 230 is more than enough, even in the snowy wilderness. How far are you driving to work every day? You realize you get 230 EACH DAY right? Even just plugging it in at home it charges in 10 hours and that's from 1%-100.
The pollution from EVs also goes beyond mining and includes manufacturing and upkeep, as well as the particulate from tires and the environmental impact of roads. Literally anyone who follows the environmental science knows that electric cars are a bandaid solution to climate change. You'll be hard-pressed to find any scientist in relevant fields that would sign off on what you're saying.
Yes, lithium mining is bad. But even counting this the emissions of an EV are a fraction of an ICE vehicle considering total lifetime. Or just totaling a few years, ICE vehicles are terrible pretty much from the get-go. Also yes, ICE vehicles impact the roads and have tires. Having tires isn't unique to EVs.
In the short term Lithium isn't the perfect solution but in the long term we have solid state, sodium, nickel, and tons of other options. If it was JUST Lithium well, the tech would be dead in 50 years.
Also lol @ bringing up Musk as if he's responsible for EV markets, when in reality all he does is produce luxury crematoriums off of incredible subsidies. You should be thanking Obama, Ford, and GM.
Elon's investments into Tesla helped convince the market that EVs are viable. That would have happened eventually one way or another, but Musk's money is the reason my next car can be an EV (from ANY auto manufacturer, not just tesla) instead of me needing to wait ten more years. Musk is a garbage person but I'm not going to warp history and pretend otherwise, it has more or less been Tesla that paved the way for EVs and convinced other car companies to invest billions into producing their own.
Also love the smug comments about not being able to convince people to change consumption habits while arguing Elon singlehandedly motivated market actors to move into EVs. Pick a position lmao
You can convince people to change their lives if you offer a way to make it easier. Electric cars are affordable and get what, 150+ mpg (in $$$ amounts). Give it a few more years and even the boomers will jump all over that. On the other hand you can't convince someone to dismantle the industrial revolution and live in a wood cabin to reduce co2 emissions. That's unreasonable even for climate activists.
You do not know what you are talking about, and it's especially obvious when you keep calling advocates for public transportation "boomers with gas cars." I don't drive, I am fortunate to live in a part of Canada with extensive transportation infrastructure and carpool in rural areas.
I never called advocates of public transportation "boomers with gas cars." lol, it's the boomers who are having existential diarrhea all over the idea that their Ford F150 might not be the best option anymore. Public transportation is 100% good and everyone benefits from it. However getting a NATIONWIDE public transport service in the US will take decades and even so it will not remove all ICE vehicles from the road. You mention Canada but did you know Canada is #8 (just behind the US at #6) in vehicles per capita? Sounds like regardless of public transportation people still end up using cars and if a person NEEDS to use a car (or a bus, commercial vehicle, etc) it's better to be electric and cut back on emissions entirely.
Co2 emissions are a big deal and there is no real "good" solution. The best we can do is embrace what technologies we do have. At the moment the best option is a large focus on public transport with support for EV and green technology.
if one rly cares about electric vehicles or the environment or w.e wouldn't they be more skeptical of Musk because he doesn't seem to care about any of that stuff he just seems to be concerned with getting more dollars?
Musk wants to make money. He made money. Regardless of his feelings beyond that the result was proof that EVs are economical and that there is public demand for them. Now every auto manufacturer is producing them and all of them are investing research into non-lithium options (such as sodium etc).
He could be Hitler reincarnated in a shark's body for all I care, his actions have convinced the public that there are options beyond ICE vehicles.
I reckon it's not a good thing for electric cars or the metro or the environment or w.e you want that Musk is leading or has power in the financing of these things
Lucky for you the wonders of evil capitalism actually give you multiple options. You can pick from Musk or many of the other auto manufacturers worldwide if you want an electric car (or scooter). Musk did his thing and now he could die for all I care, the EV revolution is here and it's finally giving people a way to reduce Co2 emissions in a way that doesn't require them to live in a log cabin.
I'm just quoting here because this post is excellent. But in addition keep in mind EVs aren't a static technology. Cheaper, more efficient batteries are an ongoing thing. In 5 years a new EV might be a 20k sodium EV that gets you 200 miles on $5 of electricity. That's ridiculous and makes Co2 emitting ICE vehicles look like trash even if you don't give a fuck about climate change. That's kind of my point though. You can't scare people into changing their life style. You have to offer viable alternatives.
