[Prohidium]

This article popped up yesterday by a Canadian reporter at driving.ca

http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/motor-mouth-an-electric-revolution-that-never-was

I have been contributing to the comments section as Scott Johnston - and the comments are all over the place on this story. An interesting read for most of us here.

Feel free to read and jump into the comments section...

 

[AtomicPowered]

I guess the best revolutions are the ones you don't notice.

Last paragraph: unlikely spike in gasoline prices? Spikes are the history of gasoline prices.

 

[JStrnad]

What I don't get is the animosity, as if you have to choose a team to support: EV vs ICE. I blame competitive sports for dulling people's sensibilities, for encouraging them in this primitive, tribal thinking.

Buy what works for you. End of story.

Jan

 

[quirkySquirt]

You said it, JStrnad. I tribal thinking and "us vs them" mentality has contributed a large amount to our survival, but our ability to move beyond this mentality (e.g., critical thinking) is what makes us such great adapters to our environment (e.g., survivors).

Sometimes, I think our complex work and social lives end up draining us of decision making energy and when comes time to relax, we literally park our brain and do what feels right. We cheer for whatever team we belong to, everyone else be damned. We're right, even though we forgot why we're right.

 

[Ladogaboy]

What I don't get is the animosity, as if you have to choose a team to support: EV vs ICE. I blame competitive sports for dulling people's sensibilities, for encouraging them in this primitive, tribal thinking.

Buy what works for you. End of story.

Jan

Not to mention the infighting within the EV community. People are treating it as a zero sum game.

 

[Loboc]

This guy's statistics are all over the map. He needs to study the meaning of an 'S' curve in adoption of new tech as well.

Look at the adoption of fuel injection and electronic ignition as a clue. Pretty much 100% market penetration. Not so much in the early '60s.

We are in the very early adoption rate for EVs. Explosion of the tech into the automotive sector is inevitable once EV is TCO competitive against equivalent gasmobiles. We will know when that happens when fleets buy EVs.

 

[Breezy]

You said it, JStrnad. I tribal thinking and "us vs them" mentality has contributed a large amount to our survival, but our ability to move beyond this mentality (e.g., critical thinking) is what makes us such great adapters to our environment (e.g., survivors).

Sometimes, I think our complex work and social lives end up draining us of decision making energy and when comes time to relax, we literally park our brain and do what feels right. We cheer for whatever team we belong to, everyone else be damned. We're right, even though we forgot why we're right.

Good thoughts. I find that seeking the middle ground on any topic takes much more energy than simply picking one of the "extreme teams" and cheering them on. Even though a compromise position is often the majority position, it's a silent majority and thus doesn't offer the same level of social support as do the vocal extremes.

 

[Barry]

A quick skim makes me believe that the main point of the article is that the total market penetration of EVs compared to ICE vehicles is still tiny, and therefore there is no EV revolution. OK, that is accurate. The "revolution" is mostly a projection of trends that seem inevitable. It is a prediction about how significant EVs will become in the future.

It is kind of like when the National Weather Service predicts a major regional blizzard and someone says, no, there is only a flurry of snowfall right now, so there is no blizzard.

 

[bluzer1]

Good thoughts. I find that seeking the middle ground on any topic takes much more energy than simply picking one of the "extreme teams" and cheering them on. Even though a compromise position is often the majority position, it's a silent majority and thus doesn't offer the same level of social support as do the vocal extremes.

+1 Well said

 

[canehdian]

From the few comments I read, I only see people that I wouldn't bother responding to online.
Sometimes I give them the benefit of the doubt and respond once or twice. Maybe some aren't lost causes, they just need more info.
But these are people who don't care for facts - they know what they know in their gut and data doesn't mean anything.
You could explain to them the truth with real data and examples over and over and they still won't care.
Don't waste your time.

The real thing that matters is no less than 4 people at work have said their next car will be electric. Solely because of riding with me in mine and hearing how cheap and convenient charging at home is. It could cost more in a lifetime and they would still upgrade for the convenience and performance.
They are the exponential growth right there.
1 has spawned 4.
And each of those will show real-world experience to multiples more, and so on. That 'viral expansion' is just beginning.

 

[Ladogaboy]

EVangelism will help grow EV adoption, but I fear the only thing that will really push EVs is discomfort. If some of the gas price spikes we've seen in the past were to happen again, EVs would start to see a much higher adoption rate. Outside of that, actual legislation or regulation would be required to "force" people to start buying alternative fuel vehicles.

The natural progression seems slow, but it is actually very steady. In some ways, the article borrows from faulty climate "science" in that it looks at snap shots in time rather than trends and rates of change. If you look at the markets were EVs are widely available and supported, they are gaining a notable market share.