[2000cs]

I know there have been threads on the subject, but I haven’t seen a discussion of the YouTube video “Clean Distruption of Energy and Transportation” by Tony Seba. (Sorry if I’ve missed it).

I’m interested in what holes anyone can find in this, and what the implications are on a more individual level (not for society, but for owning and using hot cars, for example).

Link if i did this right:

The video is just over an hour long.

[Viffermike]

Seba works for rethinkX, an 'independent' think tank that focuses on alternative energy futures -- ergo, it's not 'independent'. It very much has a social and political agenda behind it.

Here's a blog piece that breaks down rethinkX's prediction that personal vehicle usage will dwindle to 44 million by 2030, which is not likely. (It will probably dwindle, but not to this scale.) This article links to another rethinkX analysis regarding oil consumption. (Note: The blog is written by an investor, which helps regarding an objective analysis. Dude's trying to figure out where to put his money, you know?)

Here's a Business Wire PR release on rethinkX's findings regarding the future of electric and autonomous vehicles. It's far, far, far too aggressive and doesn't consider many of the points I (and others) have made regarding the roadblocks to those vehicles' adoption: insurance, liability, consumer confidence, socioeconomic accessibility, lack of utility for rural/commercial use, etc.

Will such vehicles replace ICE and self-operated cars in urban areas in 12 years? Yes, to an extent -- but not to rethinkX's wishful extent. The organization exists to push that change forward by exaggerating the (to use its own tag word) 'disruption' to news-triggering levels -- and, throughout modern history, many similar organizations have existed to push change forward similarly, but almost all have been far off their own established mark once time frames have played out.

Post this again when presentations like this don't occur in techie hotbeds like Boulder or Silicon Valley. (Birds of a feather ... ) Then we'll talk.

[Sedoy]

Let's remove all current subsidies and see what happens...

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by Sedoy

Let's remove all current subsidies and see what happens...

Texas has made it impossible to get the state subsidy on Teslas, but they still keep popping up everywhere. I really think they could kill the state and federal subsidies now and maybe 5% of buyers would balk, but the remainder wouldn't even notice.

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

Seba works for rethinkX, an 'independent' think tank that focuses on alternative energy futures -- ergo, it's not 'independent'. It very much has a social and political agenda behind it.

Here's a blog piece that breaks down rethinkX's prediction that personal vehicle usage will dwindle to 44 million by 2030, which is not likely. (It will probably dwindle, but not to this scale.) This article links to another rethinkX analysis regarding oil consumption. (Note: The blog is written by an investor, which helps regarding an objective analysis. Dude's trying to figure out where to put his money, you know?)

Here's a Business Wire PR release on rethinkX's findings regarding the future of electric and autonomous vehicles. It's far, far, far too aggressive and doesn't consider many of the points I (and others) have made regarding the roadblocks to those vehicles' adoption: insurance, liability, consumer confidence, socioeconomic accessibility, lack of utility for rural/commercial use, etc.

Will such vehicles replace ICE and self-operated cars in urban areas in 12 years? Yes, to an extent -- but not to rethinkX's wishful extent. The organization exists to push that change forward by exaggerating the (to use its own tag word) 'disruption' to news-triggering levels -- and, throughout modern history, many similar organizations have existed to push change forward similarly, but almost all have been far off their own established mark once time frames have played out.

Post this again when presentations like this don't occur in techie hotbeds like Boulder or Silicon Valley. (Birds of a feather ... ) Then we'll talk.

Thanks - I work in the electric utility industry and while we watch cost curves and technologies closely, we do tend to have our own blinders sometimes. I enjoy a variety of perspectives, but I always come back to the math!

In our industry I have several concerns about the predictions made here, at the same time I recognize that some change is definitely coming. The business challenge is to manage that change such that reliability remains high (or improves) but cost is kept as low as possible. It is very difficult to invest today in deploying a technology on a steeply declining cost curve, because tomorrow I will have a competitive disadvantage as a result!