The Validity of Electric Transportation

I’d like to call readers’ attention to this discussion of the validity of electric transportation.  In fact, the discussion began earlier in this piece on bashing electric vehicles.   There are a lot of interesting ideas here that challenge the way the EV community generally sees the issue.

I would like to add one more variable into the equation: distributed generation. I bring this up partially because I know people who spec’d the solar arrays they put on their roofs specifically to charge their EVs, and partially because distributed solar (not to mention  distributed wind/geo/hydro), has a real shot to change the energy paradigm in the not-too-distant future.

Adding to the fire here is the declining cost of PV. When we get under $1/Watt, and we’re headed there fast, folks will be generating their own electricity at $0.12/KWh, less than the prevailing rate in 20 of the 50 states.  And in fact, when you think about it, solar is only one of many potential improvements here that will help the case for EVs.

Let’s face facts: predicting the future more than a few years out is impossible at this point, with things changing as fast as they are. A few years ago, how many people were predicting there would be 5 billion cell phones in the world?  The great industry pundits missed it by a mere two orders of magnitude.

I really can’t imagine how the ever-increasing presence of EVs isn’t a good thing for all of us, and especially in the U.S., where our oil addiction is so clearly killing us, both figuratively and literally.