Apple Receives Permit From California DMV to Test Self-Driving Cars [Updated]

[alecgold]

Lithium is not cleaner, nor renewable. I'm not sure of why you say that. There is no such thing as 100 clean and renewable energy on the scale the planet needs it. The goal of reducing emissions is a great one, but electric vehicles shift around the emissions from the tail pipe to something else. However, there is not disagreement from me, powering a car by electricity is more efficient than gas, by about 60%. The future really is in hybrids and or hybrid EVs. And electric vehicles seem to not suit the lifestyle of many people. A prius hybrid EV is projected to go over 600 miles on a tank of gas.

Most people in my country travel 30 miles to work, and back in the evening.
95%+ is well within 60 miles. So why do they need 600+ miles range?
For holidays? Ride cheap all year, rent something during the holiday. Stay closer. Fly and rent there.
Only reps, sales folk, consultants and the likes frequently travel more and need a range extender.
And you're right, there is no clean energy, not until fusion gets underway and even then there might be drawbacks. But that's not to say you don't need to do anything.
At the moment the world looks a lot like a bad student house, everybody wants a clean place, most won't even do the most basic cleaning tasks, nor pay to have it cleaned.
And there comes a time when the mess, junk, pollution becomes so big we can't live here anymore....

 

[I7guy]

Most people in my country travel 30 miles to work, and back in the evening.
95%+ is well within 60 miles. So why do they need 600+ miles range?
For holidays? Ride cheap all year, rent something during the holiday. Stay closer. Fly and rent there.
Only reps, sales folk, consultants and the likes frequently travel more and need a range extender.
And you're right, there is no clean energy, not until fusion gets underway and even then there might be drawbacks. But that's not to say you don't need to do anything.
At the moment the world looks a lot like a bad student house, everybody wants a clean place, most won't even do the most basic cleaning tasks, nor pay to have it cleaned.
And there comes a time when the mess, junk, pollution becomes so big we can't live here anymore....

I don't know about most people I know quite a few who travel 100+ miles a day and some like me who could be anywhere anytime any day.

Until an electric vehicle costs the same as a civic gets the same range and convenience as a civic, it will not be viable for most people.

 

[wigby]

Lithium is not cleaner, nor renewable. I'm not sure of why you say that. There is no such thing as 100 clean and renewable energy on the scale the planet needs it. The goal of reducing emissions is a great one, but electric vehicles shift around the emissions from the tail pipe to something else. However, there is not disagreement from me, powering a car by electricity is more efficient than gas, by about 60%. The future really is in hybrids and or hybrid EVs. And electric vehicles seem to not suit the lifestyle of many people. A prius hybrid EV is projected to go over 600 miles on a tank of gas.

I have a Prius and the range is great but unnecessary for 95% of all commuters including myself. People have range anxiety and its mostly unfounded. We used to have cell phones that lasted a week on a charge but now we have smartphones that last a day on a charge. Some cannot cope with that but most can.

My point is that even hybrids rely on fossil fuels which will only continue to rise in price and cause instability around the world as countries fight over the remaining amount. In the meantime, coal and natural gas are more plentiful and power most of the grid. Those can be slowly converted to cleaner and renewable sources over time. Part of that process is using battery tech like lithium. No, it's not safe for the landfills but lithium cells can be recharged and used thousands of times over unlike fossil fuels. So not only is the source of kinetic power more efficient but the source that creates that power is much more efficient in terms of time and money spent to mine, manufacture, and distribute. I would take a lithium battery pack over a barrel of oil anyway for all those reason and more.