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Everyone loves placing blame, but I agree with ‘F the oil companies’. Look at their returns, look at the CEO’s compensation packages and lifestyles and then realize that they need to charge what they charge to keep the shareholders happy and the big bucks flowing in. To hell with the guy holding the gas nozzle watching the numbers go up.
Don’t forget to “F” those price fixing bastards at OPEC. They *could* increase production but then wouldn’t have as much money to pay Phil to hit a little white ball around the desert.
If I were to go electric, I would probably get the Etron Sportback S , that's the only pretty electric SUV, to my taste.
Check out the forthcoming Lotus EV in this month’s MotorTrend. My God man, that thing is gorgeous! Although I’m still keen on the I Pace for obvious reasons (see my sig).
As evidenced here in these recent posts, there two sides to the coin, pro-EV or anti-EV, with many opinions and viewpoints. But I believe in technology and it’s solutions for the problems posed. Reading the latest issue of Porsche Panorama, they are onboard with EV’s, as witnessed by their sales of the Taycan, and their plans to release an electric Macan in mid-2023. But even bigger news in that issue addresses many of the concerns voiced in this thread about charging times, especially, when on a trip and running low on range who really feels like waiting at a rest stop for half an hour topping off when one could fuel up in minutes and be on their way. A startup company out of Israel says they are ‘firmly on track’ to mass-produce fast-charging lithium-ion cells in 2024 that can generate 100 miles of range on a five minute charge and they are hoping to ring that down to three minutes by 2028. Look how far aviation has come since the Wright Brothers in a relatively short time span. Who knew reading Dick Tracy comics as a kid we would actually be talking to our wrist today? What’s next, zipping into our rooftop garage pod in a flying car like George Jetson?
As evidenced here in these recent posts, there two sides to the coin, pro-EV or anti-EV, with many opinions and viewpoints.
I can't say I disagree, but why can't we be both pro and anti-EV? I am. I want to and almost certainly will replace my wife's 2019 MB SUV with a plug in something or other (mileage is low on hers so it will be awhile). She NEVER goes more than 300 miles without me, so as long as we have the Defender or some other gasser around range doesn't matter. But we live in the city and neither of us likes for her to get gas at local stations, so an always "full" EV will be a real plus. In fact, we built our current house in 2016 and I put a 220 outlet at shoulder height on the wall at all 5 garage parking spaces in anticipation of this eventuality. And replacing my MINI Clubman with an EV version is a no-brainer as that's a local-destination car for me as well.
However, I'm anti EV sportscar because sportscars were my first passion in the late-70s, and I've had a lot of them and not been without at least one since 1994 and I don't want a silent one. Simple as that. I don't "need" any sportscar, so if I can't have one that floats my boats on all levels, I'll just pass, thank you.
As for my off-roading trucks, I'd happily have an EV if it gets 300+ mile range AND there's a way to carry a portable charge as easily as I carried a couple of 5-gallon Jerry cans on the sides of my Jeep.
I can't say I disagree, but why can't we be both pro and anti-EV? I am. I want to and almost certainly will replace my wife's 2019 MB SUV with a plug in something or other (mileage is low on hers so it will be awhile). She NEVER goes more than 300 miles without me, so as long as we have the Defender or some other gasser around range doesn't matter. But we live in the city and neither of us likes for her to get gas at local stations, so an always "full" EV will be a real plus. In fact, we built our current house in 2016 and I put a 220 outlet at shoulder height on the wall at all 5 garage parking spaces in anticipation of this eventuality. And replacing my MINI Clubman with an EV version is a no-brainer as that's a local-destination car for me as well.
However, I'm anti EV sportscar because sportscars were my first passion in the late-70s, and I've had a lot of them and not been without at least one since 1994 and I don't want a silent one. Simple as that. I don't "need" any sportscar, so if I can't have one that floats my boats on all levels, I'll just pass, thank you.
As for my off-roading trucks, I'd happily have an EV if it gets 300+ mile range AND there's a way to carry a portable charge as easily as I carried a couple of 5-gallon Jerry cans on the sides of my Jeep.
I understand your point, enjoying the benefits of both camps. And I appreciate that you are open minded to the advantages to each. I just meant that when encountering someone from either side, often the debate centers around either how “EV’s use fossil fuels to build, so there is no environmental benefit”, or “EV’s will be the only thing on the road in the near future”. The truth is rooted somewhere in between and the debate will continue. I love the exhaust note of my Boxster, and using my right hand to shift through the gears, instead of gripping my phone as if my life depended on it. I would be happy if they could make phones smart enough to not operate in hand-held mode, only hands-free or speaker. I grow weary of missing green lights while the person in front of me is checking their Instagram account, only to look up as the light goes yellow, speed through the red leaving the rest of us stewing. But ICE cars are not going away anytime soon, not in the 10-15 years I estimate I’ve got left. There is room for both followers for some time to come. Accepting that fact is the reality that is before us. And you express that respectfully.
Good luck with whatever you choose, but you’ll still need to pay for gas unless you go EV. And unless whatever you buy has an incredibly better fuel economy, the savings will not be incredibly better. Everyone loves placing blame, but I agree with ‘F the oil companies’. Look at their returns, look at the CEO’s compensation packages and lifestyles and then realize that they need to charge what they charge to keep the shareholders happy and the big bucks flowing in. To hell with the guy holding the gas nozzle watching the numbers go up.
I've never really understood this article. A couple years ago when I was paying $1.80 to fill my Truck up in Tennessee, the oil companies were still making incredible profit. The fact of the mater is, especially in California where I'm from, the government makes more from a gallon of gas than the oil companies do. The price of gas right now is the result of a combination of government malfeasance and government incompetence. The only debate is was the precise mix between those two is. I'd wager a large portion of it is intentional. There has been one party that has been saying for years they want to see gas prices at the level of Europe to force people out of large vehicles and into more fuel efficient and electric vehicles. Well, here we are.
I've never really understood this article. A couple years ago when I was paying $1.80 to fill my Truck up in Tennessee, the oil companies were still making incredible profit. The fact of the mater is, especially in California where I'm from, the government makes more from a gallon of gas than the oil companies do. The price of gas right now is the result of a combination of government malfeasance and government incompetence. The only debate is was the precise mix between those two is. I'd wager a large portion of it is intentional. There has been one party that has been saying for years they want to see gas prices at the level of Europe to force people out of large vehicles and into more fuel efficient and electric vehicles. Well, here we are.
A lot of government blame about oil prices, unfortunately market forces prevail, and big oil makes the rules. Copy and paste the link below for a view from a different angle. Bloomberg News has a great article delving into why we are paying these prices at the pump, and it goes back to deals struck in 2017 and an inability to respond to global shifts during the initial stages of the pandemic, and the failure to prepare for the reopening of global economies after the initial lockdowns were lifted. Interesting reading.
@WTFChuck Thanks for this voice of reason. As you say, it's a lot more complicated than just "it's Joe Biden's fault" because there is literally nothing that he or Congress have done to limit oil production or refining capacity in the short or even medium term. If anyone disagrees with me, please provide a link to *enacted* legislation that impacts production or refining capacity in the US - because I'm open to the possibility there may be something I have missed in the past 18 months.
(and please don't say KeystoneXL which would have taken 10-15 years to build and wouldn't impact oil availability until mid to late 2030s)
But I guess none of us come here to talk politics (or the international economics of oil discovery, exploration, extraction, distribution, and refining) so I will be quiet now
