California to ban sales of fossil fuel cars in 15 years

by mickbobcat 45 Replies latest social current

• 

  redvip2000

  I like the idea of starting to wean off from fossil fuels and there are countries that are well more advanced that we are. I do think this plan is too daring and I'm not sure if it's workable. The thing that will pull us away from the combustion cars is research and development which will drive the market to adopt other technologies. Simply build a better product and the consumers will follow.

  The moment that electrical cars become cheaper and comparable to combustion engines for things such as distance, easy recharging, etc, you can say bye bye to combustion cars, and for good reason. At some point in history we will look back at combustion cars and laugh at how we put up with noisy, smelly clunkers to take ur around town.
• 

  hoser

  Electric motors can be extremely energy efficient and the vehicle doesn’t need a conventional transmission. The only drawback is range and battery life. If everyone switched to an electric car tomorrow the electrical grid would fail. There just isn’t enough power lines or generation capacity to handle the extra load.

  Solar and wind can’t do it so we would need more gas or coal fired electricity which defeats the purpose of the electric car. Nuclear power plants are the solution but no one wants one in their back yard.
• 

  jp1692

  “There is nothing on the horizon that replaces fossil fuel.”

  When we were captives of the JW cult it was understandable that so many of us were ignorant and uneducated given the cult’s position on education, but to remain so after leaving the cult is both foolish and suggests that they still control our lives.

  Seriously, leave the cult—not just physically, but also mentally—and learn to think and distinguish scientific facts from ignorant and foolish nonsense.

  An uninformed statement such as the one I quoted above can easily be disproved in about 90 seconds.
• 

  Simon

  Democrats are nuts.

  Picture the scene: power has been out for days, because ... well, "California".

  The fires are getting closer, the smoke has stopped your solar panels working.

  You need to evacuate, but oh dear, your battery needs charging so you're not going anywhere. The grid is down 'cause everyone else is also trying to do the same thing.

  Happy burning to death for voting dem!
• 

  Simon

  An uninformed statement such as the one I quoted above can easily be disproved in about 90 seconds

  Fossil fuels are the basis for most industries, not just 'obvious' ones, but medicine and also renewables. How do you think those solar panels are made? Where do batteries come from and how are the minerals mined? What ships the materials to make wind-turbines?

  Renewables account for a pitiful drop of the power society needs. It's all a big con and no-where near as "green" as people make out.

  Electric cars run on gasoline, they just don't burn it themselves but do centralized conversion.

  Pity the grid won't support everyone using them ...
• 

  jp1692

  Simon: Democrats are nuts.

  Not sure if that comment was directed at me or not, but just to set the record straight: I don’t identify with any one political party in the United States. If I did—and I don’t—the closest match to my particular philosophical and political views is the Libertarian party, but I don’t agree with all of their platform either. I am truly an independent thinker.

  By the way, I’m a scientist by trade, specifically a chemist and a physicist.
• 

  truth_b_known

  I believe in climate change and I support non-fossil fuel energy sources that actually work. This is actually an insane idea for California. California imports more electricity than any other state in the union. There are people unable to flee the wildfires because of the rolling blackouts and because the own only an electric vehicle.

  Add to this that there are not enough child laborers and cobalt mines in Africa to manufacture the batteries for all the electric cars that would be needed to replace the fossil fuel vehicles in California.

  
• 

  TD

  ban private car ownership altogether. limit travel to essential journeys only.

  My daily commute is 82 miles (132 kilometers) round trip. Not at all unusual in the U.S.
• 

  Simon

  In reality, most "electric cars" are no more powered by electricity than a diesel locomotive is - they burn gasoline to create electricity to drive the wheels via electric motors, so aren't they "electric"? How far away from the oil-burning does the wheel have to be to qualify as "clean".

  It's all a hoax. They reduce emissions at the point of use, but produce waste elsewhere and lots of pollution to manufacture.

  Electric cars only work as a niche when only a few people have them. The system won't work for everyone using them.
• 

  road to nowhere

  I read an experience of rtaveling from L A to Las Vegas in an electric. One LONG stop half way to recharge. A gasser would do the whole distance.

  Lots of states are following California s lead but have winter. Add in the fact that I can do my weekly shopping taking an hour or more and note the man sitting in his electric still there plugged in, with a total of 4 stations at that store.

  The day may come when we travel less and hopefully wont need to. Right now electrics are at the stage gasoline was when you had to get the farmers team to bail your flivver out.