[tomder55]

Quid plans on attempting to make our auto fleet 40-50% EV by the end of the decade . He made that announcement this week with corporate cronies from GM ,Ford ,Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler ) and the UAW union . Absent was the most successful EV maker in the country Tesla (probably snubbed at the request of the UAW which has attempted to unionize Tesla plants for a while )

But the US doesn't really mine lithium ,a key ingredient in the main power source of EVs . We import most of the raw material from Chile ,China and Australia .Chile and Australia have the largest known reserves . So right off the bat we would be reducing an American made energy source with an imported one . China is buying mining rights in South America and Australia as fast as they can,

Oh we have lithium in places like Utah ;mostly undeveloped . But is mining lithium an environmentally clean endeavor ? Here is an Aussie mine


In South America the process is even worse than the above Aussie excavation . They extract the lithium by pumping salt water into salt flats . After several months the water evaporates, leaving a mixture of manganese, potassium, borax and lithium salts which is then filtered and placed into another evaporation pool. After between 12 and 18 months of this process, the mixture is filtered until lithium carbonate can be extracted. In all it takes 500,000 gallons of salt water to make 1 ton of lithium. Residents in the countries that use this process complain that the run off from the evaporation pool contaminates the potable water supply.

Lithium cathodes degrade over time so recycling the lithium used in batteries is not a real option . Before Quid's stated goals ,over 10 million tons of lithium, and other minerals like cobalt, nickel and manganese used in EV battery production will be mined for new batteries and 12.85 million tons of EV lithium ion batteries will go offline worldwide .

Biggest winner is Transportation Sec Pete Buttigieg .The pool of $$$ that will go to transportation in the $ trillion infrastructure bill will be his to control. He will get to decide where things like electric charging stations will be located . He has the final say on where over $105 billion in grants are spent .How the roll out to these transportation initiatives go will go a long way to determining Quid's successor. Pete has been the face of the bill ;and has been a successful champion of the popular bill.

Currently Kam the Sham leads in their race to the top . But she has been a gaffe machine while Pete has been silently gaining influence among the Dem powerful as he makes appearances around the country toting the transportation bill. If you go by the Dem primaries ,Buttigieg had some legs while Kam was forced to drop out early

[paraclete]

EV are a short term solution to a long term problem

[tomder55]

they are no solution . It is a social engineering exercise that causes greater damage to the planet . Not one of those executives would've signed on if not for them reading the tea leaves of government intervention in the market. Tesla is successful because rich people think they are cool . They drive them to their private jets or to their spacious homes on the beach (shows how much they really care about the dangers of climate change . )

[paraclete]

Like all climate change initiatives they are only a money making exercise. We haven't erected a new power station in decades becuase of the uptake of solar but solar is a short lived solution and already the installation companies are going out of business leaving the stupid populace with an expensive white elephant

[tomder55]

This is how Quid sees it happening . The government will offer generous incentives for the consumer to convert .The current federal EV tax credit of $7,500 could increase to $12,500 under an amendment that was introduced by Sen. Debbie Stabenow to the 'Clean Energy for America 'bill. Schmucky Shumer wants point of sale subsidies added to government incentives for anyone trading in a gas car for an EV. As we have seen in Texas ;when government offers freebees for things like windmills ,people line up with their hands out .

You can assume there will also be generous subsidies to the auto industry to retool .Some are already n the "infrastructure " bill. (ie $7.5 billion for the charging stations that Buttigieg will control.....and who knows how much of the “Infrastructure Financing Authority” will be tapped into for the conversion ? )

At the same time regulations on the internal combustion autos will drive up the costs to make the purchase price comparable to what it costs to purchase an EV auto. (Some want a complete ban on the sale of gas cars )
Thus the government central planners will force the market to go in the direction they want .

It will not happen without the government basically mandating it . Forgetting consumer preferences which clearly favors gas cars ; there are 280 million autos in the US today...only 3% electric . Americans typically buy 16–17 million cars every year, which would mean it would take roughly 16 years of EV only sales to completely replace all of the gas cars currently on the road, with a total ban on the sale of gas cars.

[paraclete]

The thought occurred to me that we need to advance the original Tesla idea, broadcast power

[tomder55]

Nikola Tesla doesn't get the credit he deserves and yes if that could be practically applied .....but don't get in the way of the beam ... word to any bird flying by. When Tesla 1st put it to the test ,it was shocking to people passing by. But everyone is wearing rubber soles these days.

Speaking of the corruption involved in the process. Madam Mi's hubby Paul Pelosi invested in call options to Tesla stock in late December to the tune of between $500,000-$1,000,000 . That was disclosed on January 21. Quid signed an EO directing federal officials to transition federal, state, local and tribal government fleets to “clean and zero-emission vehicles” (EVs)on Jan. 27. Coincidence ? Tesla shares have surged in value in recent weeks .

[jlisenbe]

At the same time regulations on the internal combustion autos will drive up the costs to make the purchase price comparable to what it costs to purchase an EV auto. (Some want a complete ban on the sale of gas cars )

Who will the big losers be from all of this? The poor that liberal dems claim to care so much about..

[paraclete]

Nikola Tesla doesn't get the credit he deserves and yes if that could be practically applied .....but don't get in the way of the beam ... word to any bird flying by. When Tesla 1st put it to the test ,it was shocking to people passing by. But everyone is wearing rubber soles these days.

.

The project was abandoned becuase noone could figure out how to charge for it, but we have come a long way since then. We know when some one is connected to a cell phone, to the internet

[tomder55]

[jlisenbe]

I oftentimes wonder whatever happened to Clete.