The great conundrum is, should I buy an electric car or not?
The movement towards electrification is on us, we are told all around us. Correct?! Electric cars are not for everyone yet, due to lack of proper affordable and convenient infrastructure in general. The electric car prices are still too high, especially with current interest rates.
Electric Car Sales Are Stalling
Not so fast, presently the electric car sales are stalling, dealers are sitting on piles of unsold electric cars. What is really happening, what will happen to all the mandated percentage of electric cars that must be sold across the board?
Consider this, your entire life or civilization is supported by oil across the board. The food you eat was raised, grown, planted and harvested by machines which are fueled by diesel or gasoline.
Tractors Running on Diesel
To grow food you need soil, then you need potash which needs to be mined then transported to the field. Then you need some additional fertilizer which is made from natural gas. The field needs to be plowed by tractors, seeds planted. Then if all goes well it needs to be harvested by tractors running on diesel.
When all is said and done then the harvest has to be transported from the farm to the factory for further processing, and from there has to be transported to your favorite grocery store.
The Human Civilization Based on Crude Oil
When you look deep inside our civilized world, the entire human civilization, production, transportation is all based on the mighty crude oil, on average 20 million barrels a day!
Humanity built our life, our society around the availability of crude oil and its derivatives for the last hundred years or so. Therefore it will take at least two decades to switch over to an alternative source of energy.
Probably en mass by 2050 perhaps due to lack of infrastructure, lack of charging and lack of available materials to manufacture the required high capacity batteries.
Reasonably Priced – Not Yet
This whole conversion has to be reasonably priced, widely available and convenient to use. Otherwise we will have even more out priced electric cars on dealer’s lots to be sold at enormous incentives.
Did you know a lithium mine takes at least a decade to put into production? Then you need to refine that lithium salt which is currently very energy intensive, and most of it done in China. The mining equipment is all running on diesel, including the generators. The lithium has to be shipped by bunker oil on gigantic boats across the ocean. After the refinery it must be shipped again to another destination for final manufacturing. Then the batteries have to be shipped to the auto manufacturer. When all said and done the electric vehicle must be transported to the dealership with a diesel truck of course.
Electrification Will Take Decades
Then for final words, look around. There is a lot of plastic around you, all made from crude oil. I’m not a skeptic, I like to think realistically, electrification will take decades, so hang on to your chair so to say it will be a bumpy ride occasionally.
I am Driving Hybrids, Should I buy an Electric Car or Not?
Mind you I have been driving hybrids for over 9 years and to boot I commute to work by bicycle daily.
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