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Musk, Others Want Volkswagen To Go Electric Instead of Fixing Diesels (washingtonpost.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Volkswagen has put itself in a tough spot. After cheating emissions standards, the company faces billions in fines and repair costs to bring those vehicles into spec and make peace with regulators. But a group of business owners, investors, and environmentalists has a different suggestion. The group, headlined by Elon Musk, sent an open letter to the California Air Resources Board outlining their solution. They want Volkswagen to be released from its obligation to fix cars already on the road, and instead require that the company substantially accelerate its rollout of zero-emission vehicles.
They want Volkswagen's money to go into manufacturing plants and R&D for zero-emission technology rather than to government-mandated fines. (Note that these investments would give Musk, in particular, another direct competitor.) The letter says, "In contrast to the punishments and recalls being considered, this proposal would be a real win for California emissions, a big win for California jobs, and a historic action to help derail climate change. The bottleneck to the greater availability of zero emissions vehicles is the availability of batteries. There is an urgent need to build more battery factories to increase battery supply, and this proposal would ensure that large battery plant and related investments, with their ensuing local jobs, would be made in the U.S. by VW."
They want Volkswagen's money to go into manufacturing plants and R&D for zero-emission technology rather than to government-mandated fines. (Note that these investments would give Musk, in particular, another direct competitor.) The letter says, "In contrast to the punishments and recalls being considered, this proposal would be a real win for California emissions, a big win for California jobs, and a historic action to help derail climate change. The bottleneck to the greater availability of zero emissions vehicles is the availability of batteries. There is an urgent need to build more battery factories to increase battery supply, and this proposal would ensure that large battery plant and related investments, with their ensuing local jobs, would be made in the U.S. by VW."
Can California's electric grid hold up if VW really did replace all those vehicles with electric cars? Electric cars aren't actually zero emissions - they just don't emit anything at the point of use. There's still plenty of emissions (or other environmental concerns) from the site where the power for them is generated, which is why CA has tried very hard to push most of their generating capacity out of state. Even hydro capacity has decreased, as more dams are broken than built because they apparently bother the fishies. So a massive surge in electrical demand from plug-in vehicles may genuinely hammer the local grid, a grid that is already prone to widespread brownouts. It's great to suggest that everyone go electric with their vehicles, but someone somewhere must actually generate the electricity first. It's like pushing the benefits of dairy products while banning anyone in the state from raising stinky cows.
You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
Smarter than you. Tesla is a loss leader to a bigger industry. Musk isn't building a giga auto factory. He's building a giga battery factory. I don't know how much more blatant the guy needs to be before you see where this is going.
Everyone talks about how dishonest VW was. But strictly speaking, they followed the letter of the law as it was written.
Well, no. They violated the letter of the law as it was written by introducing a "defeat device", which is a device which alters the behavior specifically for the purpose of defeating the test, or software which fulfills the same purpose. This is expressly prohibited.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
According to Consumer Reports, you are lying through your teeth.
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/storyimage/CA/20151020/OEM01/151029991/V2/0/V2-151029991.jpg&MaxW=700&cci_ts=20151021060832
But we shouldn't let facts get in the way of your opinions.
The term is entirely misleading. Zero tailpipe emissions would be accurate.
No, you can't produce clean electricity in practical way that can be used to charge cars (typically after sunset). Hydro is limited by geography and doesn't work so well in dry years. Solar is reaching its peak and daytime demand is going closer to zero in California due to too many solar installations. Demand peak starts at sunset. Google "duck" and "California grid". Solar/wind relies on new gas plants that can be turned on/off on demand. Most older ones can't, so you just run them whole day. Basically you can only use intermittent renewables under condition that your neighbors (or neighboring states) are not using them much and are ready to back you up with power of fracking product. Electricity storage is way too expensive, more expensive than peak wholesale rates for now. Seasonal power demand fluctuations are entirely hopeless matter for solar/wind without (whatever) gas that can be stored for seasons.