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Aside from all the debates about autonomy, there's an auto story that should get more traction. Ultra-low gas prices are undermining the mass-market appeal of electric cars, hitting Tesla in particular who should have the edge in the premium market. Gas will eventually rise again, but very unclear to me when that will happen given OPEC, Saudi/Iran dynamics, US being #1 oil producer in the world now. Eventually the price will rise but maybe not soon enough to help electric car efforts. Perhaps this is why Apple may be bailing out? You don't need electric to have autonomy, but you play a much smaller role with bigger partners if you don't have the whole car.
A VP at Nissan told me that electric cars have 70%+ more semiconductor content than combustion engines, so I'm all for electric. I would seriously support a $1.00 federal gas tax to pay for some new roads, bridges, hyperloops, etc... but mostly to get those damn gas guzzling air polluting single occupant SUVs off the roads, absolutely!
A VP at Nissan told me that electric cars have 70%+ more semiconductor content than combustion engines, so I'm all for electric. I would seriously support a $1.00 federal gas tax to pay for some new roads, bridges, hyperloops, etc... but mostly to get those damn gas guzzling air polluting single occupant SUVs off the roads, absolutely!
I agree Dan, but unfortunately I and many of us talk greener than we act. I still drive a gas car and very probably my next purchase will be a gas car..
Do you at least have solar panels? Porsche will have a 911 hybrid in 2018 so I'm waiting for that. Or maybe a Tesla. I'm not due for a new car until 2019 so time will tell but my next car will not be gas only.
All these ideas work great in urban areas, in the country not always so much. In principle we could have solar but the nearest south-facing view (what all the solar guys advise) is ~200' away. We're constantly pestered by solar install companies who tell us what a great deal we're going to get, come look at the property then tell us it can't be done. Of course you could get power from that distance to the house but the cabling and installation work is going to be expensive. We're still thinking about it - may jump someday, but it's not a high priority (versus ensuring we don't run out of water, the property is protected from wildfires, stuff like that)
As for an electric vehicle - we have a 100A service and I just checked that a Tesla at least requires a 50A outlet. Puts a bit of a crimp in other activities when you're charging. Plus the number of electric charging stations round here is somewhere around zero.
Hybrid would be different. As soon as Audi comes out with a reasonable-looking hybrid, I may take a serious look.
