+bonifartius 𒂼𒄄
random thoughts while driving: isn't it amazingly fair that people who can buy a new electric car (~20k-50k €) get
- sponsorship from the government to buy it (around 1k-5k €)
- free charging stations everywhere, because someone who shells out money for a new car can't handle the charging costs.
- nobody asks about the resources going into building those cars vs. just fucking use the old cars as long as possible.
- charging is done with fossil energy and no one cares because ELECTRIC!!11 YEAH!!!1
nero had a point i guess. just burn everything and have a clean start.
@bonifartius conventional cars were just a bauble for the rich when they were first made, too. As the infrastructure for the cars increased, the cars dropped to the point to where everyone could buy them no problem.
We're at that right bauble phase of infrastructure development for electric cars. Trouble is that global warming necessitates that we transition faster than would naturally occur. This means there need to be subsidies for those who buy to speed up the transition.
It's unfortunate that it helps rich people more than poor, but it will help everyone in the long run when electric car prices drop due to economies of scale.
@Demosthenes there would be much less requirement for developing infrastructure if only the fuel would be something like a liquid. as it is, battery charging requires bigger connections everywhere (including digging trenches, etc.), while fluids just are "another pump" mostly. there is no oligarch hyping that though.
@bonifartius liquids would require a massive amount of infrastructure too, particularly when considering the long-term costs of liquid distribution. No matter our choice, new infrastructure needs to be made.
"not eating meat and not flying would buy at least a few years" This is true, but as you mention, it's unfeasible. Such cultural change overnight is not going to happen.
It's time to be pragmatic and make steps towards decarbonization now. If we wring our hands and wait for a perfect solution, another several decades will pass and we will risk becoming Venus.
@bonifartius current _battery_ electric cars seem like letters of indulgence, only for greenwashing.
not eating meat and not flying would buy at least a few years wrt global warming. that seems to be too hard for people to do though, especially the not flying part.