this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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Electric Vehicles
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To get them built. Electric cars are only viable if people can use them on the same infastructure, in roughly the same way as gasoline cars. A core part of that is a expansive and reliable charging network that spans the nation.
It doesnt need to be "gas stations" anymore, but they need to be as convenient, at least in their own way.
It's common, and arguably one of the most useful parts of goverment, that highly positive but fiscally negative projects will be "seeded" for a number of years with goverment money. This happened with electrication, telecom, internet access, etc. Goverment subsidies the intial infrastructure for profit to occur, and then profit motives take over and the government can end its investment. In this way, the goverment can shift the nation in positive directions, improving its citizens lives. This fucks up at times (see hundreds of billions in broadband investments and the glacial or non existent improvements), but is largely a sound idea.
Thats why Bidens IRA pushed so much money into various green tech, including charging infastructure. If the chargers are there, it solves a core EV adoption problem, which spurs green car tech forward.
I agree with all of this in theory. Though still, why not require certain profit margins, or something? To me its mostly makes already wealthy companies building infrastructure: even wealthier.
I'm saying all of this as an EV driver too. If I use these chargers, it would be more expensive than buying gas and a similar vehicle. I think to actually get people to move more towards EVs, they need to be cheaper in terms of cost to purchase and refuel.
Also PS: more 350kwh fast chargers pls.
Your last paragraph is probably a good reason why. Its a pot sweetener, just enough to get people to do it and maybe some stipulations to make it more beneficial to the economy at large.
If the government can spend 100 dollars and convince you to invest the other 900, then its a 9x times more effective spend of that money.