We need to continue electrifying all modes of transport, to get rid of noise, carcinogenic fumes, pollution and climate-damaging emissions. Water craft being cleaned range from the smallest dingy with an outboard, to the overnight cabin cruiser, to the hundred foot yacht, up to commercial ferries and even oil tankers and container ships. That’s pretty much also the order they have been or will be electrified. While I’d known about Silent Yachts and a few others, I was a bit surprised by how much progress had been made recently, when I went to look at the PlugBoats "Gussies" election ballot.
The title pretty well sums it up. Although Toronto’s Metrolinx notoriously chose to build a diseasel-powered line from downtown to the airport, saying "we’ll electrify it someday" (but they haven’t), parts of Europe are of course heavily into electrification, but are now taking the final step with battery electrics. "A lithium-ion battery pack is mounted under the train’s floor and is charged while it moves along via overhead lines, using them to both power the train and charge the battery.
News service Financial Times has a writeup on the significant growth in EV sales over the last few and next dozen years. Headlined Electric vehicles: the revolution is finally here, the article covers who the players are: recent comers like Tesla and Rivian, Chinese players, and every single old-line car company. Seems everybody’s "charging" to get on the bandwagon.
Aptera has spent a lot of time designing a small electric car with extreme aerodynamics and efficiency. You can go up to 1000 miles on their largest battery pack, according to their information (not EPA rated yet). And the car has solar panels (some basic, more optional) that can charge up to a full day’s regular commute - for free, from the sun.
You can sign up now to reserve one for a $100 deposit, but it’s only $70 if you reserve with this (affiliate earning) link.
Capitalism, or "the market", is about rewarding those who provide goods and services that other people want to pay for. Innovators innovate. Innovation inevitably creates winners as well as losers. It has been so ever since the first wheeled cart freed people from carrying goods on their back. The steam locomotive eliminated the trade of stage-coach driver. The automobile eliminated the horse-related trades that applied to transportation (still needed for horse racing, riding sports, ranching, etc).
Some people think that batteries can’t fly. They’re wrong.
Concept plane Solar Impulse 2 circles the globe
Pipistrel has production electric trainer-scale aircraft!
Eviation’s Alice electric nine-passenger commuter aircraft prototype
Experimental 2- and 4-seat aircraft trainer
Airbus concept plane E-Fan flies the English Channel
Lilium concept "Jet" isn’t a Jet but a flying car that actually flies
As in many areas, partial migration to a new technology can help pave the way, so this hybrid jet concept by Zunum may make some progress.
Before you buy a Tesla, you should:
Do your research.
Consumer Reports has generally rated Tesla cars near the top.
Both US Gov’t and IHS have rated Tesla cars at the top safety rating (5 stars). In fact, the Tesla Model X broke one of the testing machines.
There is a lot of negativity around Tesla, which stems from two sources: The War on Tesla (see my Tesla page), and, the fact that every complaint about one person having one issue gets echoed many times by the artificial echo chamber of news-grabbing sites and social networks.
