I tend to lean in the “less emissions = good, but personal car ownership needs to end” angle.

Adam Something is good at cutting through the bullshit. We need TRAINS.

Meanwhile, the new New Zealand government is busying themselves building more highways (again), while subsidies for public transport have all been slashed, so now kids taking the bus to school have to pay double what they were last month. Oh and they've increased the speed limits too, and cancelled all cycleway projects. Because we all know the best way to reduce congestion is to have extra highway lanes pumping more cars into the city at a faster rate, while de-incentivising alternative transport.

Oh yeah, and they got rid of subsidies for EVs and introduced road user charges so that EVs are now not price-competitive any more, sales have dropped by more than 300% and EV dealerships are going out of business.

Why, if I didn't know better I would suspect that the government is not acting in the best interests of the country at all, but rather the best interests of their political donors. I would almost suspect that the cabinet being full of former oil and tobacco lobbyists is more than just a coincidence.

I just hope that at least 51% of the voting public get wise to their games sometime within the next two and a half years.

matttkkkk wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2024 12:18 am That would seem not to be the case:
https://insideevs.com/news/708375/toyot ... ons-close/

I think with hydrogen, it's important to differentiate between fixed (or predictable) route vehicles like long haul trucks, busses, ferries and passenger cars. Building fueling depots in relatively few spots (like ports, bus stations) might be doable if it makes sense otherwise. EVs win in other applications because most of the car-using world is already wired for electricity & capacity can be upgraded.

I'm kind of intrigued by operations like this https://www.gogoro.com/ which offer battery swapping stations for lightweight scooters. They are apparently having some success in various asian countries, and removing scooter emissions could make a large difference to daily life in crowded cities.

Closer to home, I think more about electric cargo bikes like https://www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/472/gsd or https://urbanarrow.com/en-na/ . They're expensive vs normal bikes, but much less expensive than cars and could replace a lot of local trips. I think electric bikes in general have a lot to offer because they don't come with the crippling debt load associated with car ownership and seem to be attractive to people who might not ride traditional bikes.

I posted a pessimistic article but it’s my greatest hope that the next decade will bring a majority of mainstream clean vehicles. It feels like the time has come here in Aus - I am a rusted-on Alfa fanatic but I’m about 70% sure my next car will be electric rather than another in the series of charismatic, glitchy Italian money pits.

To me all of this points to a complete revision of transportation and urban planning. Medium to large cities must be bike friendly with commuter rail to major surrounding destinations and high speed rail connecting them across the country. Make cars less necessary and have those that remain be electric.

Also someone will figure out how to integrate these crazy fucking electric scooters and one wheels. They certainly shouldn't be on the sidewalk but they're not always great on the street. It's like we need one way, two lane bike etc paths with those great protective installations and traffic signals that keep the cars from smushing people.

Tesla is bizarre:
https://electrek.co/2024/04/29/tesla-co ... rger-team/

Their superchargers seemed like the part of their business that was useful to the general public (since many other companies have adopted their fast charging standard). If Musk is determined to become Howard Hughes, I sure wish he'd hurry up with moving to Vegas and becoming a recluse (and dying).

Tesla is a brand not a manufacturer. The cars are boring, ugly and look cheap. That truck thing is ridiculous, looks like a boomer that read William Gibson late in life designed it.

Musk is an idiot. I suspect reality is coming his way soon. Fingers crossed.

Gramsci wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2024 2:10 pm Tesla is a brand not a manufacturer. The cars are boring, ugly and look cheap. That truck thing is ridiculous, looks like a boomer that read William Gibson late in life designed it.

Musk is an idiot. I suspect reality is coming his way soon. Fingers crossed.

While I agree about the truck and Musk himself, Tesla is a manufacturer by most definitions-- they have factories and build things in them. They've developed some good battery and charging technology and a some really bad/dangerous autonomous driving tech. They have employed some very smart people-- whether they'll stay is another question.

LuciousSandwich wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2024 3:21 pm

Gramsci wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2024 2:10 pm Tesla is a brand not a manufacturer. The cars are boring, ugly and look cheap. That truck thing is ridiculous, looks like a boomer that read William Gibson late in life designed it.

Musk is an idiot. I suspect reality is coming his way soon. Fingers crossed.

While I agree about the truck and Musk himself, Tesla is a manufacturer by most definitions-- they have factories and build things in them. They've developed some good battery and charging technology and a some really bad/dangerous autonomous driving tech. They have employed some very smart people-- whether they'll stay is another question.

I probably should have said “Tesla makes batteries not cars”. Which you are right, they’re good at. But anything at any Musk company that Musk has any control over is worse for it. The guy's such a dope he evidently tried to stop the use of hazard yellow at Space X factories because he “was going through a bit of dark phase and I don’t like bright colours”.

Honestly I do think Musk is probably the dumbest rich guy since the British Empire stopped exporting morons.

We bought a bog-standard Bolt EUV late last year due to wife taking a job that has a pretty hefty commute. The money savings in gas going from $100/week to $100/month increase in electric bill covers the bulk of the car payment. She can make the round trip and have about 60 miles of charge left upon arrival home, although that number decreased a lot when it was cold w/ a couple close calls. This bodes well for us with the battery aging that Nate mentioned.

We applied the tax credit directly to the balance of the loan. With that combined with a large down payment means we should have it completely paid off within the next year or so. The other benefit is that the car was built/assembled by union labor right up the interstate here in Michigan if you're a "shop local" nerd lol. If you're considering one, we are quite happy w/ ours so far and would recommend.

This is a good solution I think for most drivers honestly. It feels like very little compromise other than travel for long trips, but even that will be vastly improved within the next year as the Tesla stations start getting retrofitted to work with non-Tesla vehicles.

No, this doesn't address the mass transit concerns y'all are mentioning but us moving closer to her work is not an option right now so this is our best solution with cost-savings, reliability, and lower environmental impact. I also just want to reiterate that I do not believe this is a solution to fix the overall need for better mass transit & self-powered commuter options like bikes and walking. US is finally getting some high-speed rail - there's an LA-Vegas one that just went online. I hope it catches on. I love seeing trains zip past cars in creep-n-beep (even when I'm the driver).