[jmg]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

Actually gas and diesel engines can be converted to run on Ethanol or Bio Diesel pretty easily and those are renewable. So we can enjoy revving our engines and disturbing our neighbors for ages to come! After all, that's why we drive BMW's, isn't it?

Those take an ethanol blend of gasoline and ethanol. Pure ethanol also has a hard time in cold weather because it absorbs and emits water based on temp. It's also not volatile enough to ignite without some gasoline in it. Biodiesel also gels in cold weather and also produces about 10% more nitrogen oxide than traditional fuels.

Baring those disadvantages, we can use biodiesel and ethanol based generators to power the grid to charge our EVs, which currently are more efficient than ethanol blend and ethanol pure engines and not susceptible to cold weather. It's also more efficient since these liquid fuels do not need to be transported physically to fuel stations. The energy will be sent to the grid.

Additionally, we are forgetting about household solar power. If we can adapt solar roof panels on our homes even more widely than before, then we will place even less demand on our grid further making home charging more economical and more environmentally friendly.

[jmg]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

There is a limited supply of cobalt in the world, needed to make lithium-ion batteries. Most of the reserves are in the Congo. China is buying up all the cobalt in the Congo to corner the market. With the spike in cobalt prices will be the increase in the price of electric vehicles. This is not an issue with ICE vehicles, which use much less cobalt. Perhaps the death nail of the ICE and the rise of electrics is pre-mature until they figure out an alternative for electric vehicle battery.

Cobalt is recyclable. It's also a byproduct of nickel and copper ore extraction. The US will be mining cobalt in Idaho.

How strong is our reliance on foreign oil? Will the ICE live or die based on such a reliance on something that is NOT recyclable vs recyclable cobalt? I think you are just looking for reasons to kill the EV for whatever reasons. I'm curious as to what they are.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by jmg

Cobalt is recyclable. It's also a byproduct of nickel and copper ore extraction. The US will be mining cobalt in Idaho.

How strong is our reliance on foreign oil? Will the ICE live or die based on such a reliance on something that is NOT recyclable vs recyclable cobalt? I think you are just looking for reasons to kill the EV for whatever reasons. I'm curious as to what they are.

There are alternative fuels like ethanol and bio diesel. Many of the components in EVs rely on fossil fuels and some components like cobalt mean evs are actually more reliant on non renewable resources than ICEs

[bailyhill]

Lets not forget that Cobalt is also used in the alloying of High Strength Steel which is being used more an more to save weight in all cars with steel cages. The proliferation of that technology in any car, ICE or EV will increase the demand for Cobalt.

Its going to be interesting and driven more by the political process rather than consumer demand, just like emission controls and safety equipment in the 70's and 80's, and ongoing, which are not on most customer lists of must have features.

[jmg]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

There are alternative fuels like ethanol and bio diesel. Many of the components in EVs rely on fossil fuels and some components like cobalt mean evs are actually more reliant on non renewable resources than ICEs

More reliant? I highly doubt that.

[dzvero]

Which resource on earth is not limited? We will exhaust everything at some point, especially we dont even recycle all. We waste so much every day ... There is always lost materials when recycling... In the future humans might go back to caves