pedalmore

Ultra marathons are an entirely different sport from the 10k, and even marathons. Obviously training matters, but we also don't have to pretend all humans are identical and only training and grit separate them.

How can you possibly think the US military, or any sovereign country, will magically spend an extra $165B a year on meat a year if all of the current consumers magically go vegetarian? Who exactly is going to eat a bunch of extra meat? There will just be fewer meat sales, period, ignoring a short term price drop if everyone magically goes vegetarian on the same day.

You're right that cold winters in northern latitudes present additional system constraints. But that doesn't mean the renewables + storage strategy is flawed, it means we need more transmission and more storage, and gas backup will linger longer in such areas than it does in warmer areas. We're still early in the transition and have a ton of low hanging fruit to capture before we need to really focus on the remaining 20%.

How does empowering working class people solve the consumption issue though?

Clearly EVs aren't there yet for the very bottom of the market. This market will buy used for another decade and then all the sudden will start buying cheap used EVs. Used EV prices are dropping and will continue to drop, but it takes time. In the meantime, wealthy people that were already planning on spending a lot of money on cars will increasingly buy expensive electric cars and prices will come down. Pretty much every manufacturer is targeting a $10k drop in price for the next generation.

And to answer your question about where are the affordable EVs - China.

It looks like 80% ioniq 5 and 20% old beetle to me. It was a nice surprise but I don't think they will age well.

Same, I'm a low mileage driver and when I do drive it's road trips and camping mostly. The economics of a new EV vs my long paid off outback are terrible when you drive 5k a year. Waiting for a native NACS plug is the obvious decision for us (along with the rest of the reasons to wait).

Right, but I also think there is room to talk about where public investments in charging should go. I am a huge EV proponent but also I love bikes and transit and car free spaces, and I'm cautious about further enshrining parking in our public spaces by building charging infrastructure. I don't think it's as simple as any and all charging infrastructure is good, there's room for that discussion here.

The reality is many new car buyers stretch their budgets a lot more than you and I would be comfortable doing. Lots of cultural conditioning, cars as a status symbol, etc mean lots of poor financial decisions.

This whole post is about GM's ultium issues, which are very much real. You're the one bringing up Tesla unnecessarily and attacking the source. This may be uncomfortable for you, but GM and Ms Barra herself talk about Tesla all the time, and it's not surprising that EV news blogs also talk about Tesla a lot - they are the elephant in the room (at least in the US). The article also mentions Honda, and Kia-Hyundai too. Is that a sign of horrific bias too? It's a long and detailed article that barely mentions Tesla, and only in relevant ways - GM has stated they will pass Tesla by 2025 (ok sure) and the talent comment. Your entire bias argument rests on the word 'Tesla" being in the article twice, not anything of substance, and that's not even what we're here to discuss.

I don't even like Tesla personally and won't consider buying one unless Elon is long gone and they make some design changes. But I won't buy an ultium car for quite sometime either, because it's a hot mess.

It's more complicated than private network = more sales, because otherwise why would they open it at all? As a public corporation, the default assumption is that they think they'll make more money opening the network than keeping it closed. There's NEVI money, there is whatever backroom deals with the other automakers, there is brand prestige with NACS, there is marketing effect of getting drivers of other brands EVs to engage with their network, there is the long term view that their market share can only shrink and it's better to ensure their customers have access to every charger, etc. I think time will show that open access is more profitable for everyone.

Nonsense. It's plainly obvious Ultium has been a mess, and this article describes how based on quotes from Ms Barra herself acknowledging issues. There isn't even a mention of Tesla beyond saying that GM has been reluctant to poach talent from them and preferring to use their own experience and supply chains. GM has a mystery contractor that's clearly failing on module and pack assembly, in addition to software issues. If anything, this article praises the Chinese manufacturers that are producing "ultium" vehicles since they have more experience assembling packs.