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Not to mention refill time.

Not to mention safety.




According to this IEEE article, ICE fires are a greater danger than EV battery fires.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/lithium-ion-battery-fires

Recharge time is not the problem as much as recharge frequency. I can go on long trips with my Tesla. I don't mind the recharge time -- it's a good chance to get a cup of coffee or take a bio break -- but their frequency is a little irksome (if you're being cautious to protect the battery life). But then, generally I'm traveling with at least one person who needs bio breaks pretty frequently, so it works out fine.


Neither of these really invalidates the points.

A pail of gas is essentially inert and dead safe until you go out of your way to aerosolize it. Even though it will burn if lit, it doesn't light itself no matter how you abuse it, and, it even evaporates and dissipates itself completely away in a short while. IE, if you spill that pail, there is a short window of time where there is a risk of a fire, but after that the there is no more gas and no more risk.

A lithium (or any other battery for that matter) with the same amount of energy is essentially barely contained and always trying to get out and only held back by great care and no flaws in the materials and careful handling.

It's a totally different prospect or dynamic. It's not just the fires in the accidents.

"I don't mind the recharge time" is meaningless or valueless. It doesn't matter that you can afford to spend an hour getting a partial recharge, the world can not afford for all the bezillion refills to ballon to by such a crazy amount.

The system can absorb a handful of Teslas only because there are only a handful. And a lot of what makes an ev remotely practical is having an overnight charge at home. Many, maybe even most, vehicles do not have a matching garage where it's even possible to install a charger. Some day we might have street-side charging where every parking meter is also a charger, but that day is a far off fantasy. The power grid is not remotely ready for that either, especially when you add the removal of gas heating and cooking from new construction.

EVs are really completely impractical luxury toys that a few people in just the right hot-house environment can get away with, and only as long as it's not too many of them.

It will be a great future but it is the future.




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