Some people can afford an electric car. We can’t. That’s my starting point and probably my conclusion, too. For us, it’s a non-choice. Even if they made the cars cheap enough to buy, I’m not sure I’d buy one and it isn’t because I have my fortune in oil and coal. I don’t have a fortune.

I understand electric cars run clean. I also know how damaging the nickel mines are to the countries where the mineral is mined and how disposal of batteries is going to become an increasingly major issue. And then, there’s the problem of electricity itself.

Electric cars are one more way to support the same companies who have refused to allow changes from oil to alcohol and other sustainable products for decades. Even if the money issue didn’t exist, I don’t see a massive changeover to electric cars in the future unless they are giving them away free. You know auto conglomerates will never give anything away for free.

This is now and will remain a solution for those who have money. Another way for people who have the means to feel good about themselves while the rest of us struggle to afford food.

There are many more poorer people than people who can go $45,000 for an electric car. Oh, so the feds give tax credits? What if you don’t pay taxes because (ta da!) you’re retired or don’t earn enough to pay them? That includes MOST people. It’s a fact. The numbers speak for themselves.

Electric cars are a band-aid covering up an infected, running sore.

It’s not a solution. It’s great not to pay big bucks at the gas pump, but you’re still shilling for auto manufacturers and driving up the need for more power generation. Which is going to be nuclear, oil, or gas. Gas, the official “clean solution” is acquired by fracking — digging to the heart of the earth and fracturing the rocks to release gas. What’s wrong with it?

From Investopedia — not exactly one of your left wing lib groups:

Disadvantages of Fracking

Most of the opposition to fracking revolves around its potential negative impact on the environment. Fracking typically produces methane emissions, which reduce air quality. Furthermore, methane gas contributes significantly to global warming.

Fracking also consumes billions of gallons of water each year that might otherwise be available for human consumption. Moreover, wastewater from the fracking process can leak into surrounding water sources and contaminate drinking water. Finally, fracking can potentially lead to earthquakes. However, there is controversy over whether the earthquakes are directly caused by fracking or caused by the disposal of wastewater generated by the fracking process.

Fracking is also a relatively costly way to extract oil, so its economic viability is threatened whenever oil prices fall too low. For instance, the dramatic decline of oil prices in early 2020 caused concern about permanent damage to the fracking industry. In general, oil prices respond strongly to shifts in supply and demand. That means we can expect additional sudden price changes in the future. As a practical matter, it is also difficult to find new uses for the specialized equipment used for fracking.

From “Fracking” by ADAM HAYES
Updated June 08, 2022 – Reviewed by JEFREDA R. BROWN

What could possibly go wrong with fracking?

Electric cars and electric generation is another money ace the corporate world has pulled from its sleeve. If you don’t think this is going to make them even richer? Whatever happens, they will get richer. That’s why they love trickle down economics. Has anything trickled down to you? Ever? No? Well, it hasn’t trickled down here, either.

You can’t generate electricity without fuel. That means coal, oil, gas, or nuclear fission. Ironically, nukes are probably the safest solution, even though we still have no idea what to do with the leftover rods or, for that matter, how we are going to dismantle aging, unsafe nuclear generation plants — and we have a lot of them in New England.

I don’t pretend to have a solution nor do I know where or how to look, but I know this isn’t it. People who don’t see electric cars as a long-term solution are not necessarily supporting oil and coal. I’m not. Maybe at Fox they have their retirement income in oil shares, but we don’t have any shares. Anway, we don’t watch Fox so I have no idea what they’re saying. I just recognize corporate bull$hit when I see it.

But hey, I can’t even get this brilliantly blue state in which I live to let me go green without doubling my electric bill. I was willing to pay more, even though we don’t have much, but I can’t pay double. Not unless there’s a sudden massive increase in our Social Security income and you can bet that isn’t happening.

We are all pretty much screwed no matter how you look at it. You might as well enjoy your electric car and your A/C. Aren’t you glad you (probably) won’t be here when it all comes crumbling down? I know I am.

Categories: Anecdote, Cars and Trucks, Ecology, Economics, power generation

Tags: #Electricity, #SustainableProducts, Marilyn Armstrong