EVs Are Just Going to Win
Uncertainties about the future rates of electric vehicle adoption are large, but a detailed assessment of material needs, based on two scenarios (assuming that 25 percent or 50 percent of the global fleet in 2050 would be electric vehicles), found the following: from 2020 to 2050 demand for lithium would grow by factors of 18–20, for cobalt by 17–1
... See moreVaclav Smil • How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
If interest rates begin to rise or we see a post Covid-19 global slowdown, these automakers may struggle to make interest and debt repayment schedules while borrowing additional debt to fund its plans to rapidly build out their EV infrastructure and compete with Tesla. This issue raises major concerns for the survival of these traditional auto bran... See more
Tim Davies • Page not found • Holon
Cars and the FutureA little over a year ago I explained in Cars and the Future that there were three changes happening in the personal transportation industry simultaneously:Drivetrains were changing from the internal combustion engine to electricCar operation was moving from human-based to computer-based (i.e. self-driving cars)Ownership was shift... See more
Ben Thompson • Intel, Mobileye, and Smiling Curves
SUV ownership began to rise in the US during the late 1980s, it eventually diffused globally, and by 2020 the average SUV emitted annually about 25 percent more CO2 than a standard car.[76] Multiply that by the 250 million SUVs on the road in 2020, and you will see how the worldwide embrace of these machines has wiped out, several times over, any d
... See moreVaclav Smil • How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
The failure of electric vehicles in the early twentieth century, and the emergence of the internal combustion engine as the dominant form of propulsion, has much to do with liquid fuel providing far more energy per unit mass than a lead-acid battery can. But the explanation is not purely technical. It also has a psychological component. Buyers of p
... See moreTom Standage • A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next
As for cost, electric passenger cars will soon be no more expensive to own than gas-powered ones, which is great; but alternative fuels are still quite expensive, which isn’t great. We need innovation to bring those prices down.