Many automakers going all-in on electric. Is it a gamble?

[meyerweb]

Take one simple example: .... a 400 unit apartment complex. Lets say in 10 years from today 50 percent of the tenants are EVers... How do you charge 2 to 3 hundred vehicles per night in such a scenario? Dramatically increase service size... assigned charging stations in the parking lot? Utility Company’s shifting load profile.... Car companies rushing to 100 percent EV’s in 10 years will be boxed into a massive infrastructure quagmire IMO... 😎

Perhaps even more difficult to solve: row houses in a city. No one gets a reserved parking space in front of their house, so your car could be two blocks from your house. Are we going to put charging stations at every parking space on the street? And who's going to pay for it?

I think electric cars ARE the wave of the future, but we'll need massive infrastructure investment, including standardized charging connections and protocols. Can you imagine if your GM car could only be refueled at GM owned and operated stations? But that's the situation with Tesla right now. And to get to a standardized system, with enough capacity in the grid and enough stations is going to require the nasty "G" word: government.

[meyerweb]

The change coming for IC engines is one not talked about much - the change in fuel used. It is possible to burn green ammonia (NH3) in a IC engine and produce only water vapor in its exhaust. Ammonia has about half of the energy content per pound of gasoline, but it works well in a diesel cycle. As a result it is the preferred approach for next generation zero emission ships. For long range cars and over the road trucks, ammonia fueled diesel engines are a real possibility.

BMW, Porsche and others are also working on synthetic petroleum, which they believe can result in zero emissions cars. The ICE may not be dead yet.


https://www.fleeteurope.com/en/new-e...isation&curl=1

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/porsche...cars-ev-clean/

[Argus]

We are on the cusp of technology change - mass produced petroleum fuel vehicles will stop being made in near future. There are too many countries that have already passed regulations that say the future vehicles have to be zero emissions. Car manufacturers to be viable, have to complete on the global marketplace. Gasoline most likely will available for long time but at a cost. When electric vehicles come commonplace, there will be fewer gas stations and the ones that remain will have to sell gasoline at higher price to remain in business. The high cost of gasoline in the future will result in more people buying electric vehicles because gasoline will become unaffordable to the average person. The price of gasoline in Europe today is cost to $6.00 per gallon. At $6.00 gallon for gas here, with the coming of affordable electric cars with sufficient range and convenient charging stations, there is no doubt that electric cars will be our future. According to GM the cost of the battery is main reason why electric cars are more expensive so GM is building its own battery plant to drive down the cost of electric vehicles. GM is also building a new auto plant from the ground up just to build electric cars. (127) General Motors aims for all-electric vehicles by 2035, but challenges lie down the road - YouTube; Inside Factory Zero, where GM is betting big on electric vehicles - CBS News

[ALF01]

Conversation between two 20-something year olds in the year 2103:

"I'm thinking of buying the new GM transporter." "Enough locations have them now that I can get pretty much any where I want without using my dusty old Tesla Air-car."

"Good move to protect the planet." "Hard to believe that beaming yourself from one location to another was the thing of science fiction fantasy just 135 years ago..."

[Plasboy]

We are on the cusp of technology change - mass produced petroleum fuel vehicles will stop being made in near future. There are too many countries that have already passed regulations that say the future vehicles have to be zero emissions. Car manufacturers to be viable, have to complete on the global marketplace. Gasoline most likely will available for long time but at a cost. When electric vehicles come commonplace, there will be fewer gas stations and the ones that remain will have to sell gasoline at higher price to remain in business. The high cost of gasoline in the future will result in more people buying electric vehicles because gasoline will become unaffordable to the average person. The price of gasoline in Europe today is cost to $6.00 per gallon. At $6.00 gallon for gas here, with the coming of affordable electric cars with sufficient range and convenient charging stations, there is no doubt that electric cars will be our future. According to GM the cost of the battery is main reason why electric cars are more expensive so GM is building its own battery plant to drive down the cost of electric vehicles. GM is also building a new auto plant from the ground up just to build electric cars. (127) General Motors aims for all-electric vehicles by 2035, but challenges lie down the road - YouTube; Inside Factory Zero, where GM is betting big on electric vehicles - CBS News

The problem now even with acceptable range is charging time and availability of charging stations. It’s going to take billions in investment.

[Argus]

The problem now even with acceptable range is charging time and availability of charging stations. It’s going to take billions in investment.

Very true. It appears that is direction the auto industry is headed. Every auto manufacturer will not survive the transition. New manufacturers will arise to take their place. The real question is "not if"; but "when?" GM has a goal to fully electric by 2035. Porsche has stated that BY 2030 all of its vehicle s except for the 911 will be electric by 2030. Every other manufacturer has plans to electrify its fleet in the no so distant future. I suspect that the C8 Corvette that I waiting for an allocation will be the last internal combustion vehicle that I will buy.

[Jetdriver]

I have no quarrel with EVs, but they are too expensive for the average car buyer right now. The highly touted Hummer EV is going to cost over 100K, ( and so does the Jeep G-Cherokee ICE TrackHawk) and of course its appeal is limited, but for commuting people, or running around town for errands etc., more power to ya. One thing that hasn't been touched on much yet, is the elimination of the fuel taxes paid to local and state governments that now will evaporate if the world goes all EV. Now I'm not getting political, but you all know government can never go with less, and since these taxes help pay for road improvements and repairs, who's going to make up that loss of revenue? EV owners of course, governments will come up with a way to tax you for owning these vehicles, by singling out and taxing various performance parameters of EVs so that the money doesn't dry up. I know we need these taxes for road improvements. But what if new taxes are levied based on your EVs milage driven, and you have to report to a milage station every year to have that determined? There are multiple ways the tax revenue will be recovered, only restricted by the creativity of legislators. I think it would be fair for EV owners to share, through taxes, some of the responsibility for maintaining streets and highways. Personally, I think a mix of ICE and EV will be around a long time, and with the possibility of synthetic fuels that eliminate any polluting emissions could be a long time before our sacred and beloved Sports cars are forced into retirement. I have driven some EVs and I liked them for their quietness and smoothness, not to mention there is a lot of torque available on demand. GM betting the whole nine yards on EV, is a bit of a stretch, but I've been wrong before. Hope the grid can handle it. The investment in infrastructure will be enormous. I'm through talking now.

[Mobius]

Hope the grid can handle it. The investment in infrastructure will be enormous.

Off-peak charging, during evening and overnight hours, will help to reduce the burden on the grid.

[Plasboy]

Off-peak charging, during evening and overnight hours, will help to reduce the burden on the grid.

Everyone will be charging at night at home and some during the day at work. Will will off peak be.
And there will have to be tens of thousands of street side or parking lot charging stations that will take new and improved service. Your tax bill will bear this.