Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Snooze
People don't behave like a chemical reaction. Chemical reactions under the same conditions are repeatable. People's behavior is often irrational, random. Society won't reach equilibrium.
|
Clearly the analogy was completely missed by you. I’ll rephrase:
We have relied on the gasoline ICE for a primary form of transportation for over hundred years. During that time, the industry has continued to improve on the efficiency of the ICE, as well as, the efficiency of developing ICEs.
Switching to EVs means switching to a system of primary transportation that is in its infancy, which means the total life emissions can potentially be higher than with an ICE. The now classic example was how a hybrid Prius was once said to have a worse lifetime carbon emissions than a Jeep because of the inefficiencies in sourcing battery components from around the world. Likewise, early BEVs may have been less green than many ICEs because of this same manufacturing inefficiency and because they ultimately relied on carbon sources like coal for electricity.
We have finally reached a point now with battery production where a BEV has less total life carbon emissions than ICEs, and it is only getting better. This trend follows the trend of energy states in an exothermic chemical reaction. The move in a chemical reaction from one state (a society of ICEs) of higher and more unstable energy (high carbon and low sustainability) to another state (a society of BEVs) where the energy is lower and more stable (lower carbon and high sustainability) may require a transition period where the energy state is higher and less stable (shifting economy with greater carbon emissions and less sustainable practices), but this transitional state is necessary in order to get us to a better energy state (lowest carbon emissions and most sustainable).
I think it is a pretty simple analogy if you understand the basics of chemical reactions and understand the key aspects and arguments in transitioning from ICEs and from an energy grid that is heavily dependent on burning fossil fuels to a future with BEVs that run off renewables.