The future is electric

I was waiting after struggling with my loaded e-bike to get my kid to push the crosswalk button. If I don’t indulge him, I have to listen to “buuuhhhhhtton” repeated for up to 3min the complex intersections. This was one of them, merging 6 different roads and entries.

On the other side, there’s a public Tesla charger area, hosting an electric vehicle forum. Banners and shiny cars are here, with the expected slogan:” The future is electric”.

A fellow cyclist stops behind us, also waiting for the light. He greets us with a simple “nice bike” - which would be fine if he was not riding a machine more than twice the price of mine (and I already consider myself a bit of a bike snob). You see, I’m a bit of a connoisseur. I roughly know most bikes available around (and their prices). This one was a Riese & Muller Load, which to my knowledge, retails around $8k minimum. That knowledge is mostly a burden nowadays. Just like I can’t forget all the exotic race car brands after playing Grand Turismo during my teenage years.

We are now all staring at the EV show.

I didn’t say anything back, just smiled politely.

Mr fancy German bike stopped his spaceship awkwardly close to me (likely due to the long nose of the front loader that, I can attest, is hard to maneuver in small spaces). To ease the situation he openly commented that he was “on the market for a new EV, looking at those nice Rivian SUVs”.

I don’t know this guy, never met him. Now I have to say something back. I have so many judgmental thoughts, totally not appropriate like: “You have that much money, $10k on an e-bike, $80k on an electric SUV?”. Money aside, I got back at him saying that I’ll stick to my modest ($3.7k) e-bike and that electric power doesn’t seem like a reasonable idea for heavy vehicles at scale.

He instantly and enthusiastically replied that the incentives and technology are “there” and people just need to “update their mental model”. For the record, I’m not anti-electric. It’s the (typical wealthy coastal California elite) optimistic technocratic comments that irked me.

“Precious cargo! Does your little guy like the bike? My dog loves it”

I noticed the dog stuff in the cargo area earlier which I decided to ignore as pets is another topic of strong opinions of mine. How dare he pushes the kid button, another attempt at sounding virtuous. "It's for the kids and the environment", how can one beat that... But now we are here…

Now is not the time to have a debate. Every technology has its flaws. How useful would it even be to change this dude’s mind?

“He likes it but he clearly prefers the car, sadly.“

The light finally turns green. I’m relieved to see him disappear on his German spaceship.

I’m not against people buying nice things. If he wants a $80k truck, Uncle Sam will take his money. However, my current understanding of the EV situation keeps me deeply skeptical of sustainability at scale.

Even if the energy supply equation gets solved (which is a big question mark at the moment - we’ll need to swallow the need for nuclear power), the production and maintenance of EVs will be the same capitalism. Instead of Saudi oil, it will be Peruvian lithium. The logistics and details will be different but the nature of the issues will remain.

EVs are the vegan burgers of cars. The same but "better". How much better? That’s debatable. But the similarity is not. It’s intended. It needs to be the same because we all like (big) cars and burgers. Maybe less meat and more veggies would be a more moderate and reasonable approach. What about smaller cars? Make individual transport less enticing? Dare I suggest revamping public transportation? I know it won’t happen in black-or-white America. Moderation is a tough sell. It’s wiggly. It doesn’t feel good. There are no “winners”. And certainly no room for a dedicated $10k dog-ride bike per capita.

Aside from my grumpy armchair anti-capitalism, what bothers me is the smell of virtue making any “electric” purchase superior. It’s especially gross when politics and marketing push the virtue button. Big manly men have the Ford Lightning, conscious outdoorsy folks have Rivian, and fancy sedan people have a wide selection with new and legacy brands… the market is there.

The stuff is evolving but Affluence is still here. I’m disappointed and humbled by how each generation falls for it. E-bikes are the virtuous thing for genX. Good on them. That won’t make a difference though. I feed this type of thoughts every time I pass in front of an opened garage door revealing a treasure of gear I will never allow myself to gather in a lifetime. How virtuous am I?

← Index / Published on 2024-10-17