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Featured Electric Car Growth Produces Battery Shortages, Carmakers Can’t Match Production With Demand

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Ashlem, Aug 13, 2018.

  1. Ashlem

    Ashlem Senior Member

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    Well, I suppose this is a "good" problem to have. Might also explain why some plug-ins were really hard to find in many places even though it was supposed to be sold nationwide or globally.

    Electric Car Growth Produces Battery Shortages, Carmakers Can't Match Production With Demand | CleanTechnica
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    makes the gigafactory look even more brilliant, if that were possible.
    henry ford bought a rubber plantation.
    anyone can build an electric car, but not all understand the requirements compared to gassers.

    i suppose for most manufacturers, the profits are so low, it doesn't really matter. as long as they have enough for their carb credits.
     
    #2 bisco, Aug 13, 2018
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2018
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    It's not so much the building of the factory that was brilliant, rather it was securing the investment of the primary battery makers like Panasonic that not only led to building of the Gigafactory, but a few more will be built in other parts of the world now too. And if this is what we have to do turn the fossil fuel industry into a perfect storm of low demand, collapsing values and across the board bankruptcy, so be it. Of course it also creates a whole new raft of still as yet unforeseen environmental problems, but we have to move towards it to save our ship.
     
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's what makes hydrogen so attractive.
     
  5. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    You don't think they (engineering departments) know this? o_O
     
  6. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Systems engineering means looking at the complete problem, not just a narrow, parochial, tunnel vision of a problem. I love my fellow engineers for their ability to focus on and seek an optimum solution. But I truly admire those rare systems engineer who see the bigger picture.

    Systems engineers don't always see every aspect of the problem. They sometimes miss what later we see as obvious mistakes. But an Elon Musk is exceptional . . . a Spock.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  7. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Hydrogen is attractive, but what it takes to produce it and store it without it leaking away unused is many,many decades behind what can be done via a chemical battery these days.
     
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  8. dipper

    dipper Senior Member

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    That is why oil guys want to buy up Tesla.... they know they need to get out of the drug business..... I mean oil.....
     
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  9. Dxta

    Dxta Senior Member

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    I have being thinking same too. What happens if they don't succeed? They would be out of business!
     
  10. telmo744

    telmo744 HSD fanatic

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    If FCVs were way up in demand, who would manufacture membrane cells enough to keep up?
     
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  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's the great thing about a slow takeoff, you don't have all those sticky supply issues.
     
  12. ssdesigner

    ssdesigner Active Member

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    Everything new in the auto world is a slow takeoff, so to suggest that hydrogen is better because it will start slow doesn't work. If it's worth it salt it will eventually take off, and then face the same thing that batteries are facing....supply and storage issues.

    Only way to prevent it is to have a fully functioning magic 8-ball...or risk millions based on buyer predictions.
     
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    but the point is, might it be less of a problem with recycling than batteries.
     
  14. ssdesigner

    ssdesigner Active Member

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    Possibly.

    That leads us to the really important point: Never settle.

    We need to keep pushing for and funding better tech.
     
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i think that is what is happening in cali, but it is hard to watch the dollars flow to hydrogen, when just the fueling concept alone is intimidating.
    and then letting the market decide on the better tech seems like a mistake. the make is whimsical, and science should decide on the better tech.
     
  16. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    The next non-tesla news-flash will be,
    "there aren't enough high speed chargers for electric cars available!"
    .
     
  17. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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