[Fot] Electric cars

[Bill Babcock]

It's not really the incentives that make it worthwhile, though they were just
fine, thank you, but there are plenty of people here with $1000 per month
electric bills. The main generators burn oil and there's a fuel surcharge that
floats on top of the approved electric rate. We have a growing number of wind
generators, but it's still less than 15% of the island's power.  So you spend
$40K on photovoltaics, drop your electric bill from $800 per month (in my
case) to $14 and the math is pretty simple. In today's 3% ROI economy I'd have
to invest $320,000 to yield $9600 per year,  so my $40K investment seems
pretty sound.

The "green" aspect of electric cars is shifting pretty quickly, though
honestly, I could care less about that kind of bullshit. The US is fast
becoming the Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas (because of shale fracking), we're
already the Saudi Arabia of Coal and we're likely to become the Saudi Arabia
of Oil. Weirdly blessed with natural resources. Coal is pretty nasty, but you
can burn natural gas in a lot of ways that limit it's environmental effect.

All of our worries about global warming and other greenhouse gasses will be
pretty trivial as the third world continues it's steep ramp up the consumption
curve. China will surpass the US in CO2 generation this year, and their
pollution levels in dust and coal black are double ours. Move your troublesome
manufacturing out of the country all you like, it's still just one planet.

Electric cars are a popcorn fart compared to the real issues that face the
world. But saying they're useless because they use electricity from plants
that produce greenhouse gas demonstrates a deep lack of understanding of the
economics of transportable fuel vs. centralized power generation, as well as
just  basic thermodynamics. Its just an easy thing to repeat. If you really do
the math or a little research you'll be more enthusiastic.


On Apr 2, 2013, at 7:07 AM, Larry Young <cartravel at pobox.com> wrote:

> The problem with electric cars is that they run on whatever produces the
electricity, usually natural gas or coal, both produce green house gases. The
way you're doing it, Bill, makes more sense.  To have a 5 year payout, Hawaii
must have exceptional incentives for installing solar panels.  Payout periods
are usually 10 to 15 years. The problem with incentives is that they usually
change and rarely for the better.
> Larry