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Old 02-04-2021, 07:16 AM
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The Champ The Champ is offline
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I've refrained from posting here because of the sensitivity towards anything that can be construed as political.

But I've been thinking while reading the thread and really the key is the electrical power grid and how it's sources power. Unless your electricity is coming from mostly renewable resources, it is not as green as people think. This doesn't even factor in the non renewable energy used to make and transport the batteries for these vehicles or the energy used to mine the minerals necessary for their construction.

The most electrified nation in the world is Norway. New car sales in Norway were dominated by electric vehicles in 2020 - over 70% of sales. Norway can do this because Norway currently generates 98% of it power via renewable resources - only 2% is generated from fossil fuels.

Norway is a very small country that happens to be able to use hydropower generation for 95% of it's needs. They generate another 3% from solar and wind sources.

This is not possible in the United States or most countries for that matter. The best example of our inability to do this here in the US is California. California is attempting to force electricity on it's citizens with new regulations. In many California cities/counties, require newly constructed buildings and remodel projects that update more than 50% of the building to be all-electric.

They don't want to allow natural gas to be used in new construction, but they still use it to produce over 40% of their electric grid. Nuclear power represents less than 10%. Hydro is less than 20% and total renewable energy sources or less than 35% (wind/solar/etc).

Yet California suffers from frequent brownouts and blackouts (remember last summer's heat waves) because the power grid doesn't have the capacity to meet the current demand. As they build more all electric homes and buildings along with increased numbers of electric cars - what happens?

The electric grid will limit the numbers of all electric vehicles for the foreseeable future.

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