Nissan released a prototypical copy of their new all-electric vehicle — called the Leaf — this past Sunday. The Leaf is set for global production by 2012.
My question is this: why?
A burgeoning fleet of all electric cars will completely tank the electric grid in the United States.
Why would that occur, you ask?
Because the Religious Left has been doing its level best to ensure that electrical generation facilities are not built. They hate nuclear — the last nuclear power plant built in the US was the River Bend plant in Tennessee, in 1977.
They hate natural gas fired plants.
They hate coal fired plants.
Wind turbines kill birds — and are blazingly inconsistent and unreliable.
Solar power consumes and rends fallow vast amounts of ground, and their panels must be kept constantly clean.
Thermal power is, again, spotty and inconsistent.
Hydroelectricity requires dams. The Religious Left hate dams.
Therefore, America generally lacks sufficient electrical generation even for today’s needs. In Fornicalia, summer brownouts are common when temperatures reach the 100s.
The Religious Left oppose most all building of any infrastructure.
So: electric cars?
You’d best be prepared to have a nice gas-engined car as backup — despite the fact that:
The world economy cannot sustain any further rise in the oil price, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist warned as oil prices rose toward a record high for the year.
Fatih Birol told the Financial Times that prices higher than about $70 could dampen a world economic recovery.
You’d best think long and hard, America, before you purchase any full-electric vehicle; particularly if large amounts of people buy them.
This is a monster Epic Fail in the making.
BZ
Show you right! Basically the DEMS want us to be beholden to their so called Green buddies. But the Green products generally produce just as much toxic waste and this will only put money in some other type of corporations’ pockets, but then we’ll have absolutely no choice in the matter.
As an aside, one of my sister in laws works for Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, where they work with corporations to take responsibility for product life cycle in entirety. They make suggestions to companies to manufacture products using tools that can be reused and packaging that can be reused etc; good marriage between environmental consciousness AND making a profit.
Solar panels are under scrutiny now because many of them are being retired for newer models and they put a lot of toxic chemicals into the waste stream. The truth is that no matter how well intended technology may be, we are far from perfecting ‘sustainable’ products…
I am saddened that so many people fall for this bullcrap electric car stuff. And what about the toxic waste put out by their use and salvage?
Mahndisa: you make excellent points. Battery technology is not yet to the point where they consist of ANY amount of NON-toxic materials. Further, for example, no one tells you of the need for solar panels to be cleaned and washed regularly. If massive solar panel farms were placed in the desert — a semi-logical place, at first blush, to locate them — where would one get the copious amounts of WATER necessary to clean said panels?
You and I both know a HUGE amount of this crap revolves but around eMOtions and NOT logic or common sense.
BZ
Electric cars are just another product, consumers will decide if they like them or not, if problems out-weigh advantages. People made fun of automobiles at one time, but few people today are becoming blacksmiths, if you get my point. All technology has it’s consequences, it’s unintended consequences as well.
I worry far more about the lack of new energy generating facilities of any kind because of lunatic left-wing ideologues opposed to any infrastructure projects.
Even if the power were available, the nation-wide grid would be unable to carry the additional electrical load of 200+ million battery-powered cars charging up.
Besides, battery manufacturing and the batteries themselves have some pretty nasty & toxic chemicals. Recycling & safely disposing of the waste will be a challenge.
There isn’t any cheap and easy solution for any of these pie-in-the-sky proposals.
You said “This is a monster Epic Fail in the making.”
Feels to me like Obama’s trying to make American an epic failure…
That’s the “point”, BZ, I fear.
Yes Obama is making America an epic failure, but it is and has been leftist ideology for many many years, not to mention the many republicans who have embraced their ideology and have made bad decisions as a result. Obama is just moving at lightening speed taking advantage of the situation we are in.
We have thrown out morality, and put man in the center and as a result the more and more barbaric we become. Inevitably the door flings wide open for govt. to take over and be our parents because we don’t want to take care of ourselves, or we can’t.
Is there any danger involved with batteries for these car? I’ve heard some rumors about that.
AOW – Besides the toxic elements in the batteries themselves, there are still some problems with uncontrolled spontaneous thermal release (fires) under certain conditions (temperatures, charge/discharge states, accidental release of chemicals through venting or collisions), although I will state that many of these problems are close to being solved.
There’s already millions in use today, they’re called Golf Carts.
Ranando – Which are good for carrying two people, golf clubs, and beer at a maximum of 20 mph and run on (1) 12-volt car battery if not a small gasoline engine.
The requirements for a highway capable vehicle are substantially greater than a golf cart.
The Religious Left continue to baffle me. As Tom properly points out, the battery packs themselves are the toxic issue. The Left aren’t solving all issues, they’re simply trading C02 for toxic waste, pushing a few items around on the table, and then feeling better for it.
Electric cars are a solution to one issue, which creates its OWN large set of separate environmental problems. This is like creating a washing machine before clothing exists.
BZ
After reading this I got the sudden picture of large orange extension cords power strips all hooked from cars into electrical outlets across America. I witness a collegiate solar power car race the cars could not go very fast- when it was cloudy a bicycle could go faster, seating was cramped, and the cars had to stay in the sun as much as possible which made the interior of the cars very warm. My opinion more recyclable products are needed.
Margrita: thanks for visiting, and thanks for taking the time to comment! Please return time and again! And yes, an electric car is about as workable as an electric lawn mower; ie, a pain-in-the-ass. And, as things stand now and in at least the foreseeable next ten+ years, as feasible. It’s a nice thought but as practical as producing internal combustion engined cars in the 1800s without the necessary fueling points and infrastructure.
Just plain silly.
BZ
Right, let’s not worry about how our great grandchildren will inherit this planet. Let’s rape it while we can. Losers.
I love reading these little circle jerks of hate and fear by those with pea brains.
Ld
Anonymous Ld,
You are an idiot.
No conservative I know wants to rape the planet. In fact, see Tom’s comment above. Who’s doing the raping with the electric cars?
Does you name stand for learning disabled? Seems so to me.
It’s a Nissan, it’s electric, leftards like them.
S T R R R R I K E 3, YOU’RE OUT!!!!!
AOW, AA: NICELY done!
BZ
This planet, Rock 3 from the Star Sol, cannot be ‘raped’. It can have large boloid impacts, but that barely scratches the surface of the planet. The planet itself has nickel-iron core with enough radioactive material to allow for convection currents to move the material in the fluid, outer core, and that heat rises through the mantle (lower then upper) then to the Moho discontinuity and then to the thin crust. Overall the planet has a density of 5.52 g/cm3 due not only do to the core but the compression of mass due to gravity, making the overall planet more dense than aluminum but less dense than most forms of steel.
To date no one has demonstrated in a repeatable fashion that the planet Earth has any emotions or emotive capability. That being said the beings living on the thinnest extremity of the planet, thinner than an eggshell in proportion to an egg, have witnessed multiple extinction events that have claimed well over 95% of all species on the planet over its history. Given that the planet Earth can be seen as a planet that, while it can have life on its surface, appears to care very little about such life or even has malicious intent towards it. Those events are not just extraterrestrial in origin, but due to events such as placement of tectonic plates, volcanic activity and other forms of minor adjustments that, sadly, have deep consequences for inhabitants on the surface of the planet.
One cannot rape the Earth.
The planet, however, has been sticking it to all life for over a billion years.
If there is any conclusion to be drawn by the activity of man, it is the sane one that we should be working very, very, very hard before our species becomes its next victim. Of course I don’t see malicious intent on the part of the planet. It doesn’t care. If we stay here we will die because of the planet, itself, no matter what we do to the minor amount of surface material at hand. We can’t ruin an ecosystem as the planet does a fine job of that on its own on a continual and regular basis… which is what Origin of Species is all about.
This means the planet does not care about you, about me, about our civilization, about electric cars nor about much of anything. It is a fascinating object to live on, but, really, it’s in need of an overhaul… changing climate, poor weather, indecent and repeated catastrophes on a global scale, continents running willy-nilly all over the place, volcanos, tsunamis… no its not much of a ‘fixer-upper’ starter home as it is as it would take far more energy to do something to the planet to change those conditions than everything mankind has done for his short timespan on the planet. Because far worse has happened in terrestrial history: boloid impactors, gamma ray bursters, megavolcanic events, and going into a snowball state due to all the continents sitting in the south polar region for a spell.
I can’t see why anyone would want to anthropomorphize a planet… especially one with this one’s history. The moment you do then the first, very first, feeling you should have is fear and wanting to get as far away as you possibly can from it. That is sane and rational looking at this planet’s history. Too bad some folks just want to worship this lovely lady with the bloody axe… she is so soothing right up to when she loses it. Some only see the smiling face and not the blood dripping from her hands. Out, out damn spot… indeed…