Sybil Lucy
LaffyIn #Norway, the #ElectricVehicle Future Has Already Arrived
About 80 percent of new cars sold in Norway are battery-powered. As a result, the air is cleaner, the streets are quieter and the grid hasn’t collapsed.
NotMyBub 
@GottaLaff @Danetteb I visited Oslo a few years ago and it was surprising how little car traffic there was. Most people seemed to take public transit.
Nate M@GottaLaff Trains and buses better
@natemtn In L.A. Sadly, no. I mean, they should be, but oy.
Janis@GottaLaff the "It's not affordable" argument is laughable. I was spending about $250/mo on just gas in my Forester, add to that $100/mo to pay off the head gasket, and $12/mo for oil changes. I replaced it with a $9K Fiat 500e at $222/mo for 48 months. I was literally driving for free (less insurance, which was a wash) for my last two years in the EV before I got rear-ended.
Zero repairs for 6 years.
@janisf I've driven BMW i3's since 2015. Never a problem. Cheap, easy, quiet, safe.
teleneko@teleneko @GottaLaff
My Fiat 500e made it 9, total. I bought it at year 3. Nada for repairs, brakes at 95%, Battery at 100%. I did buy three sets of tires, but MN roads in places are worse than off-roading in the spring--nothing like a nice sharp concrete corner....
I got rear-ended. I cried.
JW prince of CPH@GottaLaff - and Norwegians can afford a lot of new cars because *checks notes* their country makes pretty good money selling oil to other countries... well, baby steps I guess.
maplebloom 🇨🇦@jwcph @GottaLaff I guess it's the only appropriate way to use oil for good, so long as it's temporary.
Hypx@maplebloom @jwcph @GottaLaff They're not exactly planning to scale back oil production. In fact, they are still drilling for more.
It's pretty obvious to tell that none of this is about stop climate change. Norway is just greenwashing its image using battery cars. The biggest mistake is to fall for it.
@Hypx @maplebloom @GottaLaff I wouldn't go that far - after all, it's the people of Norway buying those cars, not The State™️ or whatever. I'm pretty sure most of those people do so because they genuinely want to be more environmentally responsible.
@jwcph @maplebloom @GottaLaff The way taxes/subsidies work in Norway, it is heavily biased towards the battery car. It is not a fair market. Not to mention that the only way Norway could economically afford them is via oil exports. As they are not in the EU, they are the equivalent of the UK post-Brexit, and would be in economically terrible shape if it wasn’t for oil.
Söttand@jwcph @GottaLaff The country makes good money selling oil, not the citizens.
@sottand @GottaLaff That is true - but it does raise the overall wealth level of the nation.
@jwcph @GottaLaff true it does to an extent.
AutisticMumTo3@GottaLaff
Some US grids are seriously in need of updating anyway.
Some US grids are seriously in need of updating anyway.
Liam Ui Bhriain@GottaLaff I feel like there is a lot of cart before the horse here. Electric vehicles would be great for the environment, but in the USA the entire electrical grid would need to be overhauled first. According to the EIA over 60% of the power generated in the USA comes from fossil fuels. Even if you replaced a quarter of the cars in America with electric ones the strain on the grid would cause more fossil fuels to be burned to supply that power and put more emmisions out than what would have been prevented by the electric vehicles in the first place. In Norway only 1.2% of its power is generated by fossil fuels. Norway's population is also just over 5 million, the USA has a population of over 330 million. What works for Norway won't necessarily translate to working for car centric America.
@backofbeyond Then we need to adapt. Now.
@GottaLaff Norway is the world's most greenwashed country. It is a petrostate and uses battery cars to hide this fact. It's grid is all hydropower and will live or die depending on whether it has enough water for it all. Likely, it will soon run out of water to perpetuate this fantasy as power demand rapidly grows while water supply decreases.
Phil Thane ✅@GottaLaff Ah but, government intervention, government investment, socialist transport policies. Can't have that in the land of the free. Or here in the UK where government policy is to emulate the worst bits of US policy.