Long-Range EVs Are The Antithesis Of Efficiency And Sustainability

This is by far the best post we have read so far about eCars, EVs and whatever else they are called. Here is a redacted summary as the article is copyrighted.

Summary

• During last week's annual meeting of Tesla stockholders, CEO Elon Musk boasted, "It won't be long before we have a 400-mile range car."
• The maximum range of an electric vehicle, or EV, does not change owner behavior. He then addresses the marginal utility of EV battery packs and that it plummets as driving range increases.
• He then points out that long-range EVs may appeal to buyers who don’t understand financial or natural resource efficiencies. Those who do see clear limits.
• Miners can't increase some of the technology metal production to levels that would support a widespread transition to electric drive and therefore long-range EVs offer fewer societal benefits than less glamorous alternatives.
• Long-range EVs are the antithesis of efficiency and sustainability.

He then compares hybrids, such as the Prius, which are about conserving fuel with plug-ins which are all about energy substitution. There is a compelling table that compares five different cars in terms of savings, consumption and capacity.

He concludes that it is "patently absurd" to think that "240 million cars in China, or 264 million cars in the US; and or 1.2 billion cars in the world today; and or 2 billion cars that are expected by 2050" can be electrified.

Do read this article by John Petersen at Seeking Alpha.