Massachusetts aims to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035

[ron baer]

Just going to cost us money that shouldnt be wasted. If people really want change they can with their dollar and that is more effective by every measure when the public has the information to decide unless you think like a Communist

 

[Avro Arrow]

Some of you may remember the long gas stations lines during the fuel shortage crisis of the 1970s when only a few stations in any city had gas to pump. I'm thinking about this move toward all electric cars and that's what I envision happening at the charging stations. Not because of a shortage of electrical power but because of the time it takes to charge a vehicle which, I think even for fast charging is about 30 minutes. So you'd better take a lunch with you. And you'd better add a lot of time to your travel time estimate for long trips unless the range between charges can be drastically improved from the current max of about 300 miles.

The solution to that is actually really easy. Instead of sitting there and waiting for your battery to charge, cars would use a standardised battery design that could be swapped out quickly. I'm thinking maybe mounted under the trunk and a robotic arm would slide it out like opening a dresser drawer. That way, when you pull into the station, they swap your dead battery for one that's full and put your battery on a charger to give to someone else when it's full. It would take maybe five minutes at most to change which is about the same as filling up a gasoline-powered car.

 

[Puiu]

Yep you are correct, there will be "fast charging batteries" soon. The biggest issue that everyone is overlooking is the monumental environmental impact of mining the materials for such batteries. Not to mention the impact of billions of kilowatts needed to charge millions of EV's across a region at any given time, look at the days during the year when some areas have such a load on the system that they have to use "brown outs" to free up energy to keep some of the system running properly. Also, there is the issue of the massive amounts of heat generated by batteries charging. We already have issues with lithium batteries overheating and causing fires. One day this will possibly be a normal part of life, but as one other post says, "until there is a substantial scientific breakthrough" there is no way this is the norm.

That impact is fairly known and newer batteries will be using less such dangerous materials. For example, QuantumScape (the Bill Gates battery company which seems to be partnered with Volkswagen) is making solid state batteries with non-oxidisable electrolytes. Even Samsung is working a non-lithium battery that promises 500 miles for half the size of current batteries. Every major car manufacturer and tons of new startups with tons of cash to burn are working on their own solution.

In the end burning gas will always be more problematic than making batteries (which can also be recycled).

 

[HofyPC]

They need to change some things first.
Price. I can not afford a $50,000-$80,000 car. That is what a house costs around here.
Charging times and locations. When I drive I do not need the length of my trip to be extended because of having to stop and wait for a charge. Where I live and travel to I have yet to see a single charging station. This includes the Chicago suburbs.
Range. Even 300 miles of range is not enough. Round trip to Chicago is 400+ and I make this trip a couple times a month. I also drive to Texas and back a few times a year.

 

[scavengerspc]

They need to change some things first.
Price. I can not afford a $50,000-$80,000 car. That is what a house costs around here.
Charging times and locations. When I drive I do not need the length of my trip to be extended because of having to stop and wait for a charge. Where I live and travel to I have yet to see a single charging station. This includes the Chicago suburbs.
Range. Even 300 miles of range is not enough. Round trip to Chicago is 400+ and I make this trip a couple times a month. I also drive to Texas and back a few times a year.

My humble suggestion to you would be dont buy an electric. But the remaining 99.9% of the population can consider it.