Gas won’t “go away”. You still want plastics? You want grease for the ball joints and wheel bearings of that electric car? You still want medicines? A lot of products in our modern life comes out of a barrel of oil.
Gasoline is a part of the products that comes from a barrel of oil. Originally gasoline was a hazardous waste product that oil companies had to deal with. Fortunately for them, the automobile was invented just in time. The oil companies sold gasoline at a loss because the cost of disposal was greater than the loss of selling it. They make their money off the many other products that come from a barrel of oil.
So if we ban gasoline powered vehicles, where is all they gasoline going to go? It is not just going to disappear.
But we have synthetic greases, and bioplastics, etc. The stuff we’re making out of oil can be replaced, if not already, then in the future after further research.
At any rate, we’d best figure that out, because whether we ban gas cars or not, they’re going away. No one banned coal, but the Kentucky Coal Museum is solar powered now, because there are new, cleaner, and most importantly to most people including those whose entire business is to wax nostalgic about the coal industry, more economical forms of power generation now, so coal is going to largely go away whether the government intervenes or not.
Similarly, the demand for gasoline is going to drop. Most of the people driving Teslas around are wealthy enough to not worry about whether or not they save money on gas beyond bragging rights. And if Teslas weren’t desireable, they’d be driving other luxury cars - powered by gas - instead. So there’s a demand for electric cars that’s purely a selfish one, not an environmental one or a government-demanded one. And that demand is increasing, which means fewer gallons of gas are going to be bought.
Agreed. I used to like Tesla more, until more and more shady/careless practices started coming to light. Like using normal monitors for that beautiful 17" display in the Model S rather than automotive grade ones, so now they’re failing. And Musk himself should learn to just shut up on social media, because he’s not doing the company any favors. Especially when he does monumentally stupid stuff like calling a guy who rescues children trapped in a cave a pedophile.
Like you I also suspect my next car will be an EV. My wife’s car will be replaced first, and she’s liable to get an EV as well. Especially if Hyundai bows to customer demand and makes an electric Veloster.
If you’re implying I wasn’t willing to spend a small fortune on something I’ll use twice a year you’re correct. If you’re implying I was looking at junk you’re mistaken.
Go to Homedepot.com, Lowes.com, Menards.com and look at the one and two star reviews for just about any brand and you’ll see the same complaints. They were enough to put me off cordless blowers. YMMV.
Gasoline is one product manufactured from oil. If less gasoline is used, then less will be distilled from the oil. That frees up oil to provide more feedstock for other hydrocarbon chemicals. Anyway, gas powered vehicles aren’t going to be banned any time soon. There are millions on the road now and there is no viable substitute for all the new vehicles sold each year. Electric cars will become more prevalent as the price comes down, charging takes less time, and there are a lot more charging stations. At this time, they seem like commuting or local delivery vehicles than the multiuse vehicles most of us demand.
I saw the article about Cadillac dealers. I’d drop the franchise, too, if I had one. Too many dealers, too few sales. Promises made, promises broken. Good products teased that appear for one year or never.
You don’t have to be anti EV to see that is too big a risk to continue to sell Cadillacs especially if the buyout is more lucrative than the EV prep.
Yeah, I had similar thoughts. With GM’s history of being in, then out, then half in, then out again, of EVs I’d be nervous about spending all that money to get ready for a product line that may or may not last, if it even materializes at all.
That is not completely true. Oil contains “distillates” which are the things that make up gasoline, kerosene, propane and the fuels derived from them. Some distillates are combustable as kerosene, some are flammable such as gasoline. You maybe able to convert some of the gasoline into propane, but you will still have some gasoline.
Possibly the excess gasoline could go to power plants to make electricity, but it will need to be used somehow.
Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbon chemicals. Oil refining can be set up to maximize the production of gasoline or other chemicals the refiners want. The portion that normally becomes gasoline can be further distilled to pull out chemicals with different vaporizing temperatures. Then those chemicals can be sold or further refined or transformed to produce other products. It’s all in what the refiner cares to do to make money.
The components of gasoline (heptane, octane, nonane, etc) aren’t changed by distillation. If they can be used for something else, fine. The extra long hydrocarbons can be ‘cracked’ by adding hydrogen, turning them into shorter-chain (and typically more valuable) products.
As for leaf blowers, my $80 (for the tool) Ryobi 18V is GREAT, does my front yard, three large trees, no problem, on one charge. If I need more I have the battery that came with the string trimmer. Those reviews are simply wrong. It has 4.4 stars, over 5000 reviews, at Home Depot.
Won’t be that soon. EV’s will probably be 40-50% of vehicles on the road at that point. Possibly more, but there will still be plenty of gasoline/diesel powered vehicles on the road at that point.
When fossil fuel is eliminated I wonder what will be used to pave roads, the manufacturing of roofing shingles, plastics, carbon black, and a million other things.
And since there are protests and lawsuits anytime the construction of a power plant is mentioned where is all of that charging electricity and the grid to distribute it going to come from.
We have way too much plastic use now. As gas is reduced then we should see a reduction in plastic. Plastic packaging has gotten really out of hand. Many items now the plastic packaging is 2-3 times more then the product you’re buying.
Reduced, not eliminated. As long as we need those products, they will be produced. When viable substitutes are available at a competitive cost, they will compete with the current products for use.
Concrete is already a superior material to pave roads. Add in that it absorbs less of the Sun’s heat, and it’s a winner. It costs more to install but it lasts longer, is competitive in the long run. Albuquerque has renovated busy intersections with concrete pavement because it stands up to turning better.
Shingles are another inferior product. Standing-seam steel is better in all ways, cheaper over the long run. Shingles are only cheap to start.
Anyway, we’re talking about fuel, something we burn, not feedstock for durables, which isn’t a significant part of the problem.
Albuquerque doesn’t dump salt all over the place 5 or 6 months out of the year either. Concrete is problematic in areas with heavy road salt usage.
Tell that to insurance companies. If you install a metal roof, or metal siding, and then you get a hail storm that puts big dents in it, the insurance company won’t pay to fix it because it’s still functional. So now you’re stuck with a bad-looking house. Meanwhile the guy with inferior vinyl siding or shingles gets a full replacement because the hail punched holes in the material.
