[PLUG-TALK] Today's most accurate headline

Paul Heinlein heinlein at madboa.com
Wed Dec 30 17:16:11 UTC 2020


On Mon, 28 Dec 2020, John Jason Jordan wrote:

> On Mon, 28 Dec 2020 19:39:18 -0800 (PST)
> Paul Heinlein <heinlein at madboa.com> dijo:
>
>> I also suspect that, like just about every human invention, they will
>> not be an unalloyed good. I'm still interested to know how unrecycled
>> batteries will impact the environment when disposed (in what could be
>> very large quantities over time). Also, unlike 20 gallons of gasoline,
>> which rarely becomes a weapon in its own right in a collision,
>> batteries have a potentially dangerous combination of mass and
>> chemicals:
>
> '20 gallons of gasoline ...' - you just proved my point. People are
> afraid of batteries because they have little experience with them.
> Gasoline is far more dangerous, not to mention the climate concerns,
> but we're used to it, so we think it is safer. Fear of the unknown can
> be a good thing; that's why evolution built it into us, but it's not
> always a good idea.
>
> [... other good responses snipped ...]

John,

My point, as Rich picked up, is that technological advancements are 
rarely a moral choice; they are usually about risk. Compared to 
internal combustion vehicles, EVs reduce risks associated with air 
pollution and with some forms of petro-pollution, esp. groundwater.

That said, EVs are not risk-free.

There is a risk of greater environmental damage due to poor disposal 
of very toxic batteries. Just because we can imagine a decent 
recycling chain for spent EV batteries does not mean that one will be 
engineered or that it will be economically viable.

There is a risk of central power failures. EVs still require power, so 
to some extent we're moving production from the engine to a central 
power plant. That central plant is very likely to be more efficient 
than all those automotive engines, which is a win; reliance on central 
power also increases the vulnerability of the transportation system 
since a single plant failure can almost instantly bring about a "fuel" 
shortage. I'm hopeful that distributed solar systems might alleviate 
this risk, but for now EVs are dependent on the central power grid.

There is, as Rich pointed out, a risk to rural travelers. We can 
imagine EV charging stations in the middle of nowhere, but, again, our 
imagination does not mean it will happen.

There is a risk of competing charging standards. Right now, the CCS 
and Chademo standards are not compatible. It's likely that the 
industry will come to a single standard, or that national governments 
around the globe will legislate that into being, but for now it's a 
problem with no solution, only the workaround of building 
dual-standard chargers.

I write none of this in praise of internal combustion engines, which 
are filthy and inefficient. I'll be happy to see them gone. Technology 
never offers a panacea, however, and we're better off naming and 
addressing EV risks than we are ignoring them.

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45°38' N, 122°6' W


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