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> Gas pump credit card processing goes down too.

Every gas station I pump gas at takes cash, too.

> This is a minor hiccup in the electric transition.

It portends much worse outcomes if we don't address it.

> Right to repair should still be a thing, but that is a distinct issue

So, we're going to use the power of government to force a markets hand, but we're going to delay the consumer issues that it is going to generate, until when? And our plan is to use something other than government force to repair that issue?

It makes no sense to process these as distinct issues, in particular, because you've failed to articulate how removing right to repair is necessary to achieve "the transition." Why would that be a requirement? We _must_ acquiesce to corporate greed or they won't let us have nice things otherwise?

So.. why use the power of government to force the market, then?

More importantly every gas station is a stand alone billing platform. You're unlikely to have one outage lock out all users in an area - yes they might have to pay cash, but thats it.

After hurricane Fiona only one gas station brand was operating. They had generators but the thing that caused problems was their computer. They had to keep rebooting it for the pumps to work. It was great to get gas but standing in line for an hour for gas was not fun. All the other stations were closed due to no power or no way to get the pumps to operate if they had power.

In general, we're trying to use the power of the government to force the market to shift away from gas vehicles and towards electric vehicles because climate change, caused in part by combustion engine vehicles, is real and present, and is such a huge, expensive danger that it's clearly worthwhile to make the move. Whatever the payment/repairability downsides that bad actors fit into the electric transition are, they are absolutely nothing compared to worldwide food shortages, mass migration from losing earth to rising sea levels, water shortages, etc.

Nobody wants the businesses to take this as a chance to once again hurt consumers and squeeze consumers for ever more money and ever less power. But the businesses are still trying to pull it off anyway. You're right, action against those terrible business practices is warranted.

Giving up on avoiding further climate change is not warranted.

Most people agree something should be done about climate change. Using it as an excuse for other stuff, for political and business gain, is one of the main reasons climate change is not being taken seriously. Fix the problem directly, don't use it as a boogeyman to tell people how to live or what to buy, and we could be way more successful at avoiding opposition. Unfortunately, the most vocal people see climate change almost solely as a means of getting power rather than something to actually try and overcome. Equating not wanting freedom to use something you buy with giving up on climate change does not help, it makes people more entrenched in their views

>Using it as an excuse for other stuff, for political and business gain, is one of the main reasons climate change is not being taken seriously.

This.

So long as global warming is a question of monies I refuse to take it as anything more than just another game played by investors and politicians.

What if I told you "climate do nothingism" chicanery of the last 40-50 years was almost entirely driven by business interests and political silly buggers with reams of evidence from internal company memos proving as such?

> passenger vehicles are responsible for 61% of CO2 emissions in Europe

The EC disagrees with you on this one, quoting 12%. The share is nowhere near 61% even in the US.

https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/transport-emissions/r...

Thank you for catching my typo, I have edited my comment. The citation for the stat is 3:45-3:51 on https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=360761996193121 (“Facebook live with Jan Huitema, European Parliment”).

The lady speaking is not Jan Huitema.

Jan Huitema is the other person on the live. IMO, I would not trust this as a source at all.

To each their own.

Alternate source:

https://www.eea.europa.eu/ims/greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-...

> Road transport constitutes the highest proportion of overall transport emissions — in 2020 it emitted 77% of all EU transport GHGs (including domestic transport and international bunkers).

Just wondering but what is the lifespan of an EV? How much does it cost to replace the batteries after 10 years? I ask because I fear only the rich will be able to afford cars with such a ban. My first car cost $2k and was a clunker but it was all I could afford to get to school.

Even now, in the US, Tesla's get perks like using the car pool lane. Great deal for the rich.

We don’t know because the batteries last so long [1]. All data points to batteries lasting longer than 10 years, even accounting for degradation.

It’s a great deal for the rich because that’s what drives the market, the poor don’t have purchasing power. That’s why margins on tiny econoboxes is garbage compared to other, higher margin vehicles (and why Ford mostly makes trucks and SUVs now). Hand out incentives to those of lesser means to afford lower cost EVs when they arrive in the marketplace.

> My first car cost $2k and was a clunker but it was all I could afford to get to school.

These days are long gone and aren't coming back, regardless of EV or combustion vehicle. Average price of a used car in the US is ~$29k [2].

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2022/08/01/electric...

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/16/business/used-car-prices/inde...

> These days are long gone and aren't coming back, regardless of EV or combustion vehicle.

A quick look on my local craigslist proves otherwise.

> These days are long gone and aren't coming back.

No they aren't. I live relatively near a major metropolitan area (not an inexpensive one), and there are dozens of sub-$2000 cars for sale at this very instant.

You're fearmongering.

Not fearmongering, just not suggesting broad policy based on local craigslist or Facebook Marketplace listings. I'm sure you can find an example based on the number of economic transactions that happen every day in a country, I'm suggesting it isn't scalable and that there simply aren’t that many $2k-$5k used cars in reasonable condition. Most of those vehicles get shipped to developing countries when they hit someone like Carmax or another volume dealer (happens in Europe too with these vehicles going to Africa).

It feels like we're off track though from any meaningful discussion considering the TAM for sub $5k vehicles.

I love when people point to metrics on barely used "used" cars.

The average for used car is no where fucking enar $29k. That is complete and utter batshit lunacy unless your idea of "used" is "5 yers old or newer" or something insane like that.

I can still go buy a clunker for $1000 tomorrow.

I do often run into people who think 100k miles is "super high mileage" and couldn't change a tire if a gun was held to their head. So I guess I can see those people being utterly out of the $2k clunker market.

...

Wow. Sorry for all the typos. I was juggling two kids when I typed that and apparently I am blind to autocorrect and autocomplete fails when my attention is so divided :)

Third line of the article - "Some Tesla drivers say they can’t connect to their Powerwall home battery charging system."

this speaks more to the danger of monopolies than anything else

It speaks to the need for governments to knock heads together until charger interop is for realz.