A history of the failure of Electric Cars

Remember Betamax? Sky 3D? Minidisc? Sometimes, technologies fail. One of the best determining factors of whether a technology will become a widespread innovation or a drawn out failure is the method of implementation. Supply and demand are natural forces. If a technology works well, it may take time to be adopted by the population at large, but if there is alignment between its usefulness, effectiveness, cost, problem solving, it will naturally survive and thrive. If, though, it is forced via "top-down" Soviet style policies, there may be an initial uptake by the incentivised few, as well as some with faith in the system, but if the technology is poor, it will fail. This video examines how this method of implementation has influenced society from the ancient Greeks, to the present day...

[@lift_play_boogie]

Fundamental misapprehension of electric cars in the current context. Was dismissive of the "sophist laiden intelligensia" as a class and insulted their use of fancy language whilst obviously using unnatural and fancy language to come across to dumb viewers as someone speaking from authority. Whelmed in unintentional irony. There are a lot of inferences about the presenter that can be made by watching this video but none of them are that he has any idea about electric cars, engineering or supply chains.

[@danielhphillips]

That may be so, either I'm correct and everybody else is wrong, or this video will not age well. Vindication or blunder? I believe it is already dead, we just haven't called time on it yet.

[@MrChriss000]

@@danielhphillips They werent halogen bulbs, they were mini fluorescents (small tubes twisted into small units).. The warm white variants are a reasonable light but some cheaper ones looked blue ish. E. cars will not die out, they have a use case for low mileage urban if they can be charged at home.

[@ApolloTheDerg]

Look at Edison Motors in Canada trying to make diesel electric hybrid truck kits but due to not sucking up to corrupt grant companies they are excluded from the absurd electric only future programs. This is something we use in trains, submarines, and even some ships. Not even as much of a concept as the hydrogen is, and it relies on existing infrastructure while doubling fuel millage. If you haven’t heard of them, not a big surprise, these sophists don’t like this bottom up demand or approach.

[@danielhphillips]

Sophists they are and governments everywhere are buying it by the trillion!

[@MrChriss000]

They werent halogen bulbs, they were mini fluorescents (small tubes twisted into small units).. The warm white variants are a reasonable light but some cheaper ones looked blue ish. E. cars will not die out, they have a use case for low mileage urban if they can be charged at home.

[@jorgenascimento9710]

I just placed an order for a mustang dark horse v8 100% ice. I will be making my neighbours here in france very jealous. Taking 3 minutes to fill up the tank. How amazing is that technology!

[@danielhphillips]

Awesome... Make a video!

[@Bleistifthalter]

Hi there, I just wanted to let everybody know that there is a lot of misinformation about the technical and supply chain side of things out there, not in this video but I think some of your conclusions might be influenced by it. For example the amount of resources extracted from these horrible and often illegal mines and the way people like to overlook that you also need a lot off cooper etc. for combustion cars so only the difference that the battery etc. makes should be looked at (mainly lithium). Also the company's that say or act like EVs are the future are (with some exceptions like Porsche or VW) all big manufacturers, even Harley Davidson made a new E brand. My last point would be Hydrogen and oh boy that's a fun one cause although hydrogen is good if made with renewables, it does not have the efficiency that an EV has. Also the problem of hydrogen Itself like for example volatility which raises safety concerns that are expensive to solve and the availability of this fuel are big problems. The hydrogen market itself is currently against the idea of vehicles that run on it as in many places (like Europe) it can only satisfy the Industries and in the future will also have to provide for planes, helicopters, trains, maybe trucks and if all of them are fueled up maybe cars. I am not at all against hydrogen and if the problems with it are fixed hydrogen will come, but its not today at least not on a big scale and at the price of an EV.

[@danielhphillips]

Thank you for such a considered response. The next half a decade will be fascinating in so many areas in the economy, electric cars in my opinion are already dead but at this point, I accept, it could be a specious claim

[@davehasenford3985]

I love my prius.

[@danielhphillips]

On behalf of Jeremy Clarkson, apologies

[@saginaw60]

Sketchy!

[@danielhphillips]

I agree (I think!)

[@RoyaltyInTraining.]

Bit weird how you represent the free market approach as "bottom up" when most people couldn't even dream about launching an innovation they made themselves. The reality is that money rules the world. So if you don't have any money in the first place, you need to surrender control of your innovation to venture capitalists. You'll be bound by law to act in a way that satisfies the whims of investors, otherwise you loose everything. Both command economies and free market economies operate in a top-down manner. Another unrelated observation: I think you're confusing halogen lamps with fluorescent lamps. Halogen lamps are a kind of supercharged incandescent lamp, and they turn on in a similarly short period of time. You used to find them used as car headlights before the shift to LEDs happened, and I'm sure you haven't noticed any delay there. In contrast to that, Fluorescent (aka. CFL) technology really is kind of crap. Slow to warm up, contains loads of mercury, and gives off a spectrum with a shit color rendering index. It was just a stepping stone on the way to LEDs that the world had to accept.

[@danielhphillips]

Money is not the prerequisite to success. For most successful entrepreneurs, even if they lose their fortune, they retain the skillset required to build it back again. People are innovating all the time, you could make the case that venture capitalists/ investors simply pollenate the economy by selecting the ones they hope will be winners. The broader point here is that there is no natural market for electric cars, its already failed, we just haven't called time on it yet as a collective.

[@RoyaltyInTraining.]

@@danielhphillips Calling investors "gatekeepers" would be more accurate from my point of view, but I guess your explanation is self-consistent with your free market mindset. Debates about socioeconomics are usually a waste of time in comment sections. I don't disagree with this specific point you made about electric cars. It's only natural that ICEs remain the obvious choice after the fossil fuel lobby has pumped an enormous amount of money into securing their place at the top. My criticism about this situation isn't directed towards any of the things you said, but towards all the people who got us into this mess in the first place. Cars should never have become the primary method of transportation, no matter what energy source they're using. There are better transportation methods for the rigid routes people usually follow, like their commute to work. This is an entirely different debate of course, unrelated to the points you made in the video.

[@davehasenford3985]

Without EVs, central Africa would be a paradise where all children go to school and get an education, get professional jobs and get married.

[@danielhphillips]

Married even! That's awesome

[@thatrandomproject6652]

Someone’s butthurt

[@LaurisKlim]

Somehow I hear only rant with no arguments with facts provided. Just like some AI generated peach.

[@danielhphillips]

I can confirm that no AI was harmed during the making of this content

[@dictatoribenevolo8394]

very sketchy! I'd rather have illegal mines in africa than have Europe depend on russian fascists for oil and gas. in my mind ICE cars kill more people because of micro pollution that poisons the lungs and because of all the money that was given to russian oligarchs that they now use to invade Ukraine (killing people) and destabilize Europe. Electric cars are ideal to drive the average 30 km a day that every person has while going to work and back. yes electric cars are bad at range. but be honest with yourself how often do you drive 400km in a go?? if the battery recicling problem can be solved, and if enough charging stations can be installed at work and other places, than electric cars will be the way to go

[@andyc7595]

The UK and USA are run by paedophiles, how many Russian politicians are Epstein's clients?

[@danielhphillips]

We agree on a lot here. We divert on the potential of electric cars as I believe the market is a phoney one subsidised by government incentives. There is no "natural" market as such

[@danielhphillips]

Strange that in my early days of setting up a KZbin channel I am naturally surprised by my first "the world is run by paedophiles" comment. On a video about electric cars of all things. Quite extraordinary, thank you

[@jacekmarczyk4436]

The fascists are in Ukraine, not Russia.

[@andyc7595]

@@jacekmarczyk4436 these people don't even know the meaning of the word fascist.