glances at gasoline prices
I wonder why...
glances at gasoline prices
I wonder why...
Not because of concerns of global CO2. People only care about their pocket books.
I don't really care why. Neither does the climate.
Yeah, that's generally how humans operate. Pretty universally.
That's how they're conditioned/forced to think under capitalism. Everything orbits around the accumulation and/or preservation of an abstract, arbitrary number rather than things that actually matter.
No, that's just human nature. Humans operate within circles of closeness. Themselves, their immediate family, their extended family, their neighborhood, their town, their state, their country, other humans globally, then other issues like the abstract issue of a future climate situation.
Generally, people only start to care about the further circles when the closer circles are fully satisfied, regardless of economic system. If something happens to affect a closer circle, then humans will virtually always focus on that circle before caring about a further circle.
Silver lining of the war in Ukraine and Iran. I hope the straight stays closed for a decade.
Donald Trump may be the single most climate friendly president in our lifetimes.
Hell, they're doing so well EVs were more than 25% of cars sold in the US last quarter - and even at that low percentage, total unit sales of EVs in the US was second only to China.
Retail sales of the battery-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models qualifying for the incentive fell 26.6% and 13.9% year over year, respectively. Even with those declines, electrified vehicles, including BEVs, PHEVs and hybrids (HEVs), accounted for 26.9% of U.S. retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, according to Urban Science’s daily new-vehicle sales data through June 30, 2026.
(source)
That is honestly much higher than I would have expected for the US. A rare piece of semi-good news from over there for once.
My cynical but not wrong take as a US citizen who drives an old normal-sized car:
The vehicles people choose to drive are so freaking huge that their electric versions will probably need 200kwh battery packs, making them even more expensive than EVs already are here.
Though on the other hand, the people around me DO love spending ridiculous sums on their cars too.
Nah.
The EV with the largest battery available in the US the GMC Hummer EV (side note: I want one. They're the dumbest things I've ever seen. Seriously, who thought this was a good idea?) with a 246kwh battery pack - the next highest I could find is 205 kwh for the Chevrolet Silverado with the Max Range battery package (estimated range 478 miles). Both have massive batteries, but that's what's required if you're towing using an EV - nearly all other EVs in the US sit at around 85-110 kwh for the sedan/SUV/Crossover segment , and 65 for electric roller skates like the bolt (no hate for the bolt, it's pretty nice. It's just so tiny.)
And here I am, looking for a new gasoline car because I can neither charge at home nor at work. There aren't even any fast chargers around as far as I know...
You don't need a fast charger at home. But if you live in apartment or something, then yeah you're out of luck.
You can use an app/site like PlugShare to see if there are any nearby chargers.
Keep in mind that you can plug an EV into a standard outlet and add between 40 snd 80 miles to the tank overnight. You don’t have to install a special charger.
Hope this helps.
Believe me, I would love to be getting an EV. I live in an upstairs Appartement to, and have a parking spot that is about 5m away from the nearest structure, let alone outlet. I hope the charger situation improves within the next year, because that's about all the time I can give it. Thanks for the link btw, but it only confirmed that there are no viable chargers close by.
Where do you live roughly? Can you contact your local government (the more local the better, your mayor for instance) and see if they're open to supporting infrastructure for charging? It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation, and many like you may switch if there's charging infrastructure.
Small town in germany, with CSU in power locally I have little hope
The actual problem is diesel, ship bunker fuel and jet kerosene.
We also need a better backbone to support evs. China has massive charging stations, essentially battery stations like gas stations.
Well, it is one of the problems. You could say the microplastic from car tires infecting our bloodstream and everything on Earth is another. But there are loads more problems as well.
Some problems cause sudden excess deaths in the billions, others less so.