CarsGuide - Electric cars must be 'insanely great' because customers don't care about being 'green': Ford

[Blue highway]

I have better things to do than debate any of this with anyone, because there is so much information out there and so much of it isn't correct.

I strongly recommend you read Bill Gates' book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need. Forget what you think of the man, he does a great summary of the types of power available, and explains in terms that a 6th grader can understand how some energy sources aren't able to make more than a small dent. He does a square foot comparison of things like wind vs. solar. And shows how we MUST switch from coal and natural gas to nuclear at some point.

+1 on the book... good read... good ideas

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[Blackpony]

Interesting discussion but it seems to me that it is too much of letting great being the enemy of good. I decided to go EV after I put in my geothermal heating and cooling system, took out my oil burner and removed my eclectic AC and added more solar production to make the electricity needed to heat and cool my house. I also added more solar so that I could power an EV. I started shopping for a EV and found the MME. While I was looking at other makes the law changed and the tax credit suddenly was no longer available on just about all of the competition so I decided to go MME. I had a hard time finding a new one available now so I wound up getting the GT which was perfect as I was trading in my Nissan GTR. The bottom line is I essentially use no fossil fuels for any of this stuff because I generate my own electricity. Like I said, don’t let great be the enemy of good!

 

[nvabill]

I couldn't resist, from the movie The American President 27 years ago!

 

[iam-s-Hon]

We would all be driving bolts or leafs if he was wrong. He's not. EVs need to be exciting for mass adoption.

Are you sure about that. There are thousands and thousands of Accords and Corollas on the road, which I think qualifies as mass adoption.

Practical and reliable. Not exceptionally exciting.

 

[iam-s-Hon]

Less efficient compared to an econobox EV? True statement.

But EVs have a greater impact taking the biggest gas guzzlers off the road. ie; a F-150 Lightning or Explorer EV has more offset to their gas counterparts than, say, a Leaf does vs. a Toyota Corolla.

Seems like Ford's PR team missed an opportunity to drive that point home.

Ford basically oversold the the Lightning. Not sure Ford's PR team needed to drive that point anywhere.

 

[ripperAZ]

LOL
Nice take FMC VP weasels. !
So you mean the $$$$180,000 lucid sold out because if it’s great efficiency and economy. Not because it’s a super fast Tony Stark wanna be vehicle ?
Jes sayin. Thanks for the update Ford.

 

[woody]

And yet, to the best of my knowledge, not a single organization or company(gang) who claims they will go to all wind and solar have removed themselves from the "Utility Company" power grid! Why haven't they?

Why would they?
Going off grid makes no sense for the greater good. Solar produces the most in the summer, more often than not more than can be used by the individual or company solar owner. Demand for electrons is very high in the summer when solar owners are producing a lot of extra electricity. Off grid and those electrons would not be put to use.
Battery storage is the stumbling block at present. Larger companies/organizations have better opportunities for available large scale storage than a residential consumer(no place for most residences to put them).
Should you want to see how it works, visit small conservative towns in places like Texas or Georgia. You know, places that still have small/medium sized businesses. Leftovers from America. When we had communities where members worked together, ran small businesses that provided jobs for members of the community, supported public education, formed community organizations to keep the community healthy, neighbors talked to each other, kids played outside(with other kids!) , community members were good role models, all kinds of such nonsense.

The gang is Coal Oil Gas and Utility (COGU) companies which have unchecked power. (Why do you think your portfolio owns stock in them. Great grandpa knew it. That is why he bought those stocks for great grandma).

 

[nvabill]

Why would they?
Going off grid makes no sense for the greater good. Solar produces the most in the summer, more often than not more than can be used by the individual or company solar owner. Demand for electrons is very high in the summer when solar owners are producing a lot of extra electricity. Off grid and those electrons would not be put to use.
Battery storage is the stumbling block at present. Larger companies/organizations have better opportunities for available large scale storage than a residential consumer(no place for most residences to put them).
Should you want to see how it works, visit small conservative towns in places like Texas or Georgia. You know, places that still have small/medium sized businesses. Leftovers from America. When we had communities where members worked together, ran small businesses that provided jobs for members of the community, supported public education, formed community organizations to keep the community healthy, neighbors talked to each other, kids played outside(with other kids!) , community members were good role models, all kinds of such nonsense.

The gang is Coal Oil Gas and Utility (COGU) companies which have unchecked power. (Why do you think your portfolio owns stock in them. Great grandpa knew it. That is why he bought those stocks for great grandma).

As I said to another poster, I'm out, I will leave the debate to others. I love my Mach E and I will see where the future takes us.

 

[Scooby24]

Are you sure about that. There are thousands and thousands of Accords and Corollas on the road, which I think qualifies as mass adoption.

Practical and reliable. Not exceptionally exciting.

I am. Those accords and corollas are not EVs.

EVs are new and expensive. If you're going to spend more money for an EV, it needs to be exciting.

The boring EVs aren't selling well. In order to make EVs for the masses, the pricing will have to come down and to get to that point, the demand for EVs need to grow. That won't grow if they come out of the gate making EVs boring.

Nissan and Chevy did that with the Bolt and the Leaf and they weren't adopted on the same scale.

 

[RickMachE]

I personally didn't get this car to go green. There are 100 companies doing about 90% of all the damage to the earth.

Trying to pass on the onus of saving the planet to the individual consumer is laughable. Go to the route of the issue. Major corporations would rather save a buck today than worry about tomorrow.

rant over. ohe actually, let me also throw in a "fuck billionaires" while I'm at it.

From Gates' book:

Making things - cement, steel, plastic - 31% of emissions
Electricity - 27%
Growing things - plants and animals - 19%
Transportation (planes, trucks, cargo ships) - 16%
Heating and cooling - 7%

 

[The Black Horse]

From Gates' book:

Making things - cement, steel, plastic - 31% of emissions
Electricity - 27%
Growing things - plants and animals - 19%
Transportation (planes, trucks, cargo ships) - 16%
Heating and cooling - 7%

I'm gonna choose not to listen to a billionaire tell me how billionaires are not to blame. Just my personal opinion.

 

[RickMachE]

I'm gonna choose not to listen to a billionaire tell me how billionaires are not to blame. Just my personal opinion.

What an uniformed comment. You have no idea if he says anything about billionaires are not to blame.

Since you have no idea what the book says, your comment is worthless. You'd probably be surprised that Gates in fact does say traveling by jet and having lots of homes and possessions is hurting, not helping the effort.

 

[The Black Horse]

What an uniformed comment. You have no idea if he says anything about billionaires are not to blame.

Since you have no idea what the book says, your comment is worthless. You'd probably be surprised that Gates in fact does say traveling by jet and having lots of homes and possessions is hurting, not helping the effort.

You seem defensive, is everything okay?

 

[RickMachE]

You seem defensive, is everything okay?

It's fine. Just calling out a comment that has no basis in fact. Social media is wonderful.

 

[Vulnox]

I don't understand how the part quoted from Gates means he is saying billionaires aren't to blame. They are a leading user of building materials, transportation, etc. It's not like they are burning their billions of dollars to generate emissions, they do so through their company actions (or inactions). Microsoft and Amazon are two enormous green house gas polluters simply through their data centers and the amount of power needed to run them. That would still be, at its core, the fault of billionaires and fall under Electricity/Making Things.

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