wb9k
10 kW
liveforphysics said:I have an analogy for this thread.
I'm riding in a plane flying along enjoying the ride. Plane rides are a normal accepted thing. While flying along you hear people yelling up to you to let you know planes can't fly. Or that they only fly in your area because it's got special air.
I'm sure Justin feels the same every time someone tells him he can't run a successful business with only a cargo - bicycle.
The sooner you direct your efforts towards looking at reasons EVs can work rather than won't work, your area will also get to stop getting around in carcinogenic fartboxes.
Only one problem you refuse to address--unfortunately it's a major one. Nobody--NOBODY--has ever managed to make money selling passenger EV's. Not Nissan, not GM, not even Tesla. There are some fantastic EV's out there, but the really good ones are still very expensive despite the fact that they are all being sold at a loss. Much of this is chicken-and-egg economies of scale at this point. That is to say, for example, that A123's cell price is high because there are so few customers, but the reason there are so few customers is because the cell price is so high. Part of it is government--another "big ship" to steer--but just as significant is consumer culture (which has sadly been contaminated with mythological politics, at least here in the US), and perhaps most importantly, the skills of the engineering community at large. It takes several years to develop the collective engineering know-how to facilitate a paradigm shift as significant as the one we are talking about here. It is happening, but the pace is maddeningly slow. Trust me, the OEM's ARE NOT ready to just flip a switch, even if the world were already crackling with charging infrastructure they couldn't do it. I feel your pain, I can't wait to get this moving either, but there are limits to the speed with which it can be done. This is no longer about EV's "working", it's about the speed with which the wheels of large scaleindustry adapt to change.
A123 tried to wait out the market changes that would make them profitable as a company focusing mostly on HV applications. The industry simply doesn't move fast enough to facilitate that kind of change. Had the government subsidies been allowed more realistic timelines, it may have been different. Same for Fisker (who, BTW has also been revived by Wanxiang). But it's as though the timelines are shaved to unrealistic durations by design. The Democrats get to take credit for passing their subsidization legislation, but only because Republicans have sabotoged it enough in the name of "accountability" to virtually insure it will be perceived as a failure. Public perception be damned, I still think the first wave of work A123 did as a partly government-subsidized entity contributed a good deal to the industry, and that work is continuing today under the new ownership. In a way I prefer the new way because now nobody gets to complain about government money anymore--that's over. A123 is not yet profitable today, but they are closer than ever and have a plan to be profitable within a couple years. If they can execute worth a damn, I think they can succeed.
Patience, Luke. Your dedication and energy are admirable, but it doesn't help to constantly point out how much smarter you are than the average schmo (and we are smarter.)
Pacem,