If I lived in Eastern Washington I would have a set of winter tires. Or at least that's what I imagine. Do most folks where you live use winter tires?
I live in what King County calls "the Eastside", east from Seattle, in the suburbs. We so rarely get snow that I haven't gotten winter tires. AWD plus mud/snow rated all-season tires has been enough for me.
If you visit the West end of the state, look me up. ^_^
are tire chains allowed on your car?
They are, if they are thin. Tesla sells traction cables that fit my car's wheels... super expensive.
So I bought Auto Socks, fabric traction devices. Very thin, and affordable.
Note that where I live, a car with AWD and good tires almost never is required to use traction devices. I am supposed to have traction devices in the car when driving in winter conditions in case conditions get extreme, so I keep the Auto Socks in the car.
Last winter I drove over Stevens Pass and my car was very sure-footed.
I did get pulled over by a highway patrol officer for not having chains. The first thing he said to me was: "... your car has all-wheel drive, doesn't it. Sorry, that's on me." I was tempted to say "look, I even have traction socks, I will show you!"
I just today saw this: Meta has working AI that can tell a blind person what the glasses see!
http://x.com/matthieurouif/status/1840865632209813558?t=O6xoM109P-rC_lITLZ7E8w&s=19
The currently available Ray Ban Meta product can work with BeMyEyes. This new product will be amazing for sighted people, but the existing Ray Ban product will be about equally good for the blind.
Ray Ban Meta has cameras, microphone, speakers, and cellular Internet. It's missing a display.
P.S. I just read a review and the Ray Ban Meta could be a lot better as a device to help the vision-impaired. For example, the review complained that the device will only summarize text, not read it verbatim. Clearly an issue that could be fixed with software.
On the plus side, it's one of only a few options anything like it, and costs less than the others.
If they are sincere protestors, neither idiots nor paid shills, e-fuel should address their concerns. If we pull carbon from the atmosphere and convert it into jet fuel, then the jets are just putting the carbon back into the atmosphere, carbon-neutral.
The energy to do this will make it horribly expensive right now. But with wind and solar, the energy costs will drop. And if you can design the e-fuel facility to run when power is cheap and go into standby if prices go up, you can take advantage of the variable nature of renewable power.
See Tony Seba's videos about solar/wind/battery power. His models show that most days if the year there will be surplus, cheap power, but a few days per year there won't be. An e-fuel manufacturer might be a good fit for this scenario.
That should be "Lots of people want to buy an EV. Sorry, phone keyboard.
Lord of people want to buy an EV. More every year.
Not really a hard sell.
The model y doesn't have much competition for people who want a crossover sized EV.
Ford Mach E
VW ID4
Kia EV6
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Audi Q4 e-tron
Polestar 3
various Chinese cars that could be imported in future
The Tesla Model Y is the best in its class IMHO but these are competition.
But the important point is that you said EVs would be a hard sell and I pointed out that the best selling car in the world is an EV. If EVs are a hard sell, why do many people want a crossover sized EV?
EVs are going to be a hard sell? Did you know that the top-selling car in the world is an EV? Tesla Model Y. It's outselling ICE cars that cost less, including for example the Toyota Camry.
EVs are mechanically simple, making them reliable. If you want to save money and yet have a reliable car, an EV is for you.
An ICE vehicle in working condition can drive long distances much faster since refueling can be done in something like ten minutes while an EV will take more time. This is one of the two major advantages of ICE over EV. (The other is that in cold weather ICE gets heat as a side effect while an EV has an energy cost for heat.)
I got rid of my ICE car and I drive an EV. In practice I would rather drive my car for a long trip than rent or borrow an ICE car. I am not a racer, and I would be taking breaks during the drive anyway. My car can drive for at least three hours and then I can get a meal, a snack, or at least some coffee during the time it needs to charge.
Our longest driving trip in my EV was about 1700 miles round-trip. I would do it again in my EV.
If you drive to extremely remote places, ICE might still be best for you. For me, and for probably 98% of drivers, an EV will be a better choice.
Yes, Tesla technology would suffice if Germany can install it in sufficient quantity.
I am not sure how long it would take. Tesla currently has two Megapack factories that each should build 40 GWh of Megapacks per year. I predict Tesla will build another factory in Europe, possibly in Germany. Then build even more factories.
Other companies could sell similar products too of course.
Tesla modeled how much battery capacity it would take to run the whole world on renewable power.
http://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-3
As Australia found, even some batteries can make a profound improvement to grid reliability.
http://www.esig.energy/australian-landscape-of-grid-forming-batteries/
Tesla Megapack is already able to provide inertia services including black start.
Tony Seba predicts that the USA could build a complete SWB renewable power system in a decade if we make an effort. I haven't checked his models but I believe him.
The biggest problem with nuclear power is that there are legions of people who will pay lawyers to sue and sue. You couldn't build a barn quickly with constant interruptions, let alone nuclear power plants. So, for good or ill, we will have less nuclear power than we might.
96 hours of batteries worldwide is huge.
In 1904, paving all the roads and parking lots and high-speed freeways would have seemed huge. Yet that happened.
The batteries make money for the power companies, so they buy and deploy them as fast as possible. And Tesla has two factories (so far!) that can build 40 GWh per year when fully ramped, and I expect many more such factories (not just from Tesla).
There are zero examples of a country that has deep decarbonized with just wind and solar. Zero.
Please check out Tony Seba and his think tank, RethinkX. He convinced me that the future will belong to renewable power: SWB (solar, wind, and battery).
This never worked before because the necessary batteries were science fiction. This is no longer the case. The necessary batteries exist and will be built and installed faster and faster in the near future.
It will take a lot of batteries: according to models by RethinkX, about 4 days' worth of power. (That's not insurmountable. If it would take six months' worth of batteries, I would agree it wouldn't be practical.)
Renewables will be unbeatable because it's so convenient that you never need to get fuel for them, or get rid of pollution (like coal ash or combustion exhaust). You will need to recycle or dispose of the solar panels or wind turbine equipment at end of life, but that's nowhere near as bad as some would claim.
Nuclear will be important as we explore space. We should keep working on it.
Great news: you can get what you wished for. Current technology (pun!) most certainly does support adding 80 miles of range in 15 minutes.
Some models of Tesla can add 75 miles in 5 minutes. And they will have a max range of over 300 miles, not only 80.
http://www.tesla.com/blog/introducing-v3-supercharging
Just last weekend I needed a meal. I parked my car at a Supercharger, walked to a Five Guys, ate my meal, and walked back to my car. It had added over 100 miles in that short time. My car is an older one and doesn't charge as fast as the newer ones, but it's fast enough for me.
"Take that, you hostile sons-of-bitches!" -- James Coburn, in the finale of _The_President's_Analyst_
