Model 3 Vs Elio

[Rickb]

I disagree. My model 3 will be my daily driver. and my Elio will be for long trips.
I am 31, single, & don't need a big vehicle to travel long distances in. If I can travel from ATL to Little Rock on my bike I think I will be more than comfortable in my elio long distances. Just my 2 cents

I'm 69, married 47 years, retired and that is my exact plan to total 4 cents worth. The Elio for me may essentially be a fun $8000 driveable range extender.

 

[Ty]

A closer comparison would be to the more mainstream Chevy Bolt, or the cheapest electric cars available. I take it you drive long distances in that truck because it's used for work?

I'd like to see a lot more people interested in the Elio due to awareness of oil's finite nature, not just initial cost or novelty factors. There is still massive denial (esp. in America) that oil is even a finite resource. You see people squandering it all the time with idling, which wastes nearly 400k barrels per day in America alone (source).

Can we PROVE that oil is finite? Isn't it always being made? Of course, we are probably using it faster than it's being produced but hey, that's another issue.

 

[Ty]

The first time Oil was almost used up was about 1880. It spurred exploration which resulted in the Spindletop find (Lucas Gusher) very near me in Beaumont a couple of miles from Lamar University where I graduated from. Later a huge field was found in East Texas about 2 miles from My grandmother's Birthplace. Most of WWII was fought from production from that field.

My family was all over the 1937 school explosion which resulted from using unodorized natural gas from that field.

There were fears of running out again in the fifties and the seventies and fears of overseas dependence in the nineties. Then they find more or better production methods like fracking and we have a temporary glut.

It's a cycle which shows no sign of ending.

ALL resources are finite. But they won't run out because the price goes up as the cost to utilize them goes up decreasing the demand. If the price gets high enough, you can produce oil from non fossil methane. It just isn't worth it at current prices.

It's better to just be cheap and let the market work for us.

I'd argue that NO resources are finite. Is water? Air? Sunlight? All resources, all continue to be produced/renewed. For that matter, oil wasn't just here. It was produced and continues to be produced through natural processes. Of course, we are probably pulling it out of the ground faster than nature can replace it but it isn't, by definition, finite. Okay, nitpicking. I suppose at our current rate of consumption, it may as well be finite. Hey, 12,000,000 barrels of oil a year are used to produce plastic bags in the US. I may drive an oil guzzling (diesel fuel is an oil, right?) truck but I carry my cloth bags to do my grocery shopping. At least that's a little helpful...

 

[Rickb]

Can we PROVE that oil is finite? Isn't it always being made? Of course, we are probably using it faster than it's being produced but hey, that's another issue.

Perhaps the key issue with oil and a move to sustainable transportation options is to reduce oil consumption and stop supporting OPEC. I use fabric bags when shopping too. Although who knows maybe they are made of spun recycled plastic fiber.

 

[Ty]

Perhaps the key issue with oil and a move to sustainable transportation options is to reduce oil consumption and stop supporting OPEC. I use fabric bags when shopping too. Although who knows maybe they are made of spun recycled plastic fiber.

LOL.. I've thought about that too. How about this brain twister: Does it really take more oil during the production process to build an EV than the EV will actually save during it's lifespan? (you'd have to include battery build and disposal) The quick answer is always no. But, is it?

 

[Marshall]

Can we PROVE that oil is finite? Isn't it always being made? Of course, we are probably using it faster than it's being produced but hey, that's another issue.

Starting with ethanol from bio-renewable sources, you can derive any type of fuel through organic chemistry. The challenge is doing it for a usable price when so much naturally occurring Crude is available. There will be no running out, only a price point where a transition is financially prudent. Moving to other alternative fuels will also have their price points which will vary from customer to customer.

 

[Ty]

Starting with ethanol from bio-renewable sources, you can derive any type of fuel through organic chemistry. The challenge is doing it for a usable price when so much naturally occurring Crude is available. There will be no running out, only a price point where a transition is financially prudent. Moving to other alternative fuels will also have their price points which will vary from customer to customer.

True. Price will climb as it gets more difficult to pull oil from the ground. The hope is that the rise will be gradual enough not to throw the world into upheaval yet fast enough to push change before we are forced to change. I'm hoping that with the ongoing research, that the pricepoint for change keeps getting lower till it makes sense to go electric (or other alternative) before gas hits $5 a gallon average across the US.

 

[johnsnownw]

LOL.. I've thought about that too. How about this brain twister: Does it really take more oil during the production process to build an EV than the EV will actually save during it's lifespan? (you'd have to include battery build and disposal) The quick answer is always no. But, is it?

Well, if you're discussing "oil" in the sense of "emissions." Yes, but would be dependent on usage.

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/life-cycle-ev-emissions#.V0X1UfkrKUk

 

[Jeff Miller]

Well, if you're discussing "oil" in the sense of "emissions." Yes, but would be dependent on usage.

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/life-cycle-ev-emissions#.V0X1UfkrKUk

And of course the rebuttal video that came up on youtube after I watched the above:

I love the additional comments from the second video that address the assumptions from the first video that allow the first video to make its claims.

 

[johnsnownw]

Yeah, except Bjorn Lomborg is:

http://www.desmogblog.com/bjorn-lomborg

The UCS, which I linked to above, is actually comprised of scientists...in the fields they analyze.