![]() ![]() Countless scientific studies have shown that physical punishment is not effective. Hitting a child with a wooden paddle is the way to teach them to behave and show respect.ĭoes it work? No. Let me understand this: Institutions of learning are teaching children what? Oh, OK, I get it now. Re “ Paddling Makes a Comeback in Missouri” (news article, Aug. It is the current inadequacies of our long-distance public transport that helps fuel the automobile industry’s battery pursuits. In the United States, such a rail system would result in the 300-mile battery serving only a small niche market, not the mass market goal currently pursued. In other countries, trains provide the capability to make extended travel possible without using the family automobile. Would that battery capacity still be the automobile industry’s goal if a rail system adequately met the average family’s needs for more extended travel? I agree that the 300-mile-range battery is the wrong goal. Until they become ubiquitous, there is a market for those big batteries. Recharging stations are nearly nonexistent in many areas of the sprawling West and Midwest. Who wants to be stranded in a whiteout on a closed interstate in Kansas? Not my preferred way to die. Even though you’d avoid traveling in such weather, sometimes you don’t have a choice (a birth, or a death …). Have you looked at the Dakotas? Nebraska? Colorado? Texas? The prospect of grinding to a halt in the middle of, say, Montana or Nevada is guaranteed to cancel the appeal of a short-run E.V.Ĭonsider, too, Midwestern winters with their occasional blizzards. People who live in Mountain States or the Great Plains routinely drive three-digit distances. The writer is emeritus professor of materials chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-founder of the battery company Avanti. Invented in America, sourced in America and made in America: That’s the prescription for independence from Chinese battery supply chain dominance.ĭonald R. It’s time to stop propping up the tired 30-year-old lithium-ion battery technology as a key enabler of the green transition. This means devise a new battery chemistry that requires no cobalt, no nickel, no manganese and no lithium, but instead is made of substances that are earth-abundant and readily available here in North America. We need to attack it the old-fashioned American way: Invent our way out. We can’t just dig our way out of this problem. Edward Niedermeyer writes that “the path to lower battery costs is extracting and processing minerals at a great scale.” I have some news. Instead, with supply chain constraints, prices are rising. The subsidies in support of expensive electric vehicles have not brought down prices. “revolution” will really take off.Ĭheap, reliable urban vehicles are popular in Europe and could be superb commuter cars within dense urban areas in the United States. can sell a 260-mile electric car (the Bolt) for the mid-$20,000s after federal incentives, a 100-mile version of the car might come in under $15,000 and undercut every other vehicle on the market. How would they afford a small electric vehicle for daily use and a hybrid truck for long trips, as the essay suggests?Ĭar manufacturers need to make vehicles that work for all, not just a privileged few. But think about the impact these charging limits would have on lower-income folks. I understand how difficult developing electric vehicles and their batteries can be. A car is freedom, and limiting people to 300 or fewer miles between charges also limits their access to family, friends, education, job opportunities, nature, relaxation and more. Many people can’t afford to fly or take the train. No, we may not need to drive 300 miles very often - but when we need to drive that far, we often really need to go on that trip.Ī car that travels long distances enables us to attend funerals out of town, seek treatment for serious illness at faraway hospitals, take children on college trips or move across the country. This essay seems to hold a somewhat privileged view of cars and the role they play in today’s American families. Re “ A 300-Mile Range Is the Wrong Goal for Electric Cars,” by Edward Niedermeyer (Opinion guest essay, Aug. ![]()
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