I’ve been thinking about how we’re prioritizing the electric vehicle (EV) race. Trust me I would absolutely love to have an EV. However, are general consumers the right focus when we’re facing such shifts in our climate?
I was listening to EV New Daily and he brought up how commercial vehicles are spewing all these exhaust fumes into our atmosphere. In 2018 the EPA reported that 28% of greenhouse gases came from transportation. This is followed up by electricity at 27%. If that makes up over half of the greenhouse gases being created shouldn’t we focus on resolving those areas first?
Now don’t get me wrong I want an EV. I love the idea of getting an EV. I think about how to justify the cost because as well all know they are NOT cheap. EVs are luxury vehicles at this point. Look at Tesla, Lucid, Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW as examples. They all know people of the means desire and can afford an EV.
Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota, was speaking recently and he pointed out that at this time the product of EVs isn’t affordable for the common man. To be honest I can see his point. It’s not cost effective to produce EVs yet. The keyword there is yet. Toyota has been working on a solid-state battery which has a lot of merits from what I hear but I think we all know that a semi or a delivery/commercial truck puts out a lot more toxic fumes than an ordinary car.
A great example of a company that’s looking to convert their delivery vehicles over to electric is Amazon. Amazon placed an order for 100,000 delivery vans from the new EV manufacturer Rivian. That’s a huge deal for Rivian because they’re still trying to stand up their business and start manufacturing the trucks and SUVs they had originally planned. That’s a huge amount for a single order.
So that’s Amazon but imagine if UPS and FedEx did the same thing. If they ordered 100,000 trucks each that would be a huge number of jobs. Good paying American jobs that would be jobs. In today’s economy imagine what a shot in the arm that would be. There would be so many people put to work by all the companies that would be developed to support an effort like this from those companies.
There is some concern over infrastructure but again being pragmatic we know that no company could roll 100,000 vehicles off the assembly line in that short time frame. So prioritize and start delivering what you can. There’s just so many pieces to this puzzle. Imagine all the work that could be done in creating a stronger more effective electric grid in the US.
Training and development would be a key need in the United States. Universities could do so much to support the research efforts to support the engineering, manufacturing, and software development of these vehicles. There could be trade schools and programs for high school and adults alike to develop the skills to bolster the manufacturing of EVs. This would lead to good-paying jobs for so many Americans.
Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good!
Voltaire is credited with this Italian proverb
I was just speaking to the manufacturing of EVs but there’s the whole utilities industry that would need to be addressed as well here. If you remember back to the beginning of this article electricity contributes 27% of the green house gases in 2018. I doubt that number has gotten hugely better given the last administration in the US was trying to bring back ‘clean coal’.
We would need to address the creation and storage of power from new alternative energy sources. That in itself is a huge undertaking. That would require huge infrastructure projects in multiple locations across the United States. It would also take some new policies as well. For energy to be created in one location or state and sold to a different state isn’t done regularly in all areas of the country.
So what would you prioritize? Do you it would be the utility companies or the EV manufacturing? It’s kind of a chicken and egg conversation. You need one for the other. They almost need to be done in conjunction. Maybe a regional approach would be more pragmatic. Of course you would be support from various organizations and government entities in the region so that would be a key factor in the discussion.
With at least 5 major natural disasters this past year I don’t think we can ignore the fact that our world is changing. Last year natural disasters cost the US $306 Billion and I’m sure there are still plenty of Americans who are trying to recover from those natural disasters. So can we ignore what’s going on and not prioritize our efforts?
Leave me a message and let me know your thoughts. It’s a long and deep conversation.
If you like what you’ve read check out my last post What a state of affairs.
Have a great weekend!
#ElectricVehicles #ClimateChange #MoreJobs #ImprovingAmerica #CleanUpTheEnvironment #PrioritizeWhatsImportant
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