Electric Vehicles

We all have something to say about Elon Musk; how could you not? He did one thing that has changed the game for all of us, electrifying vehicles. Many have been waiting for this technology to return for decades. The car companies, not so much; they would have been happy not to pay a dime to change.

I believe the President of one of the major car companies told Congress not so long ago that it would take decades to make the change across the board, but as soon as they saw their customers wanting electric vehicles, the shift happened quickly. So much for pretending it would take them decades; I believe the number was 2030.

We are also seeing utility companies finally wake up to solar. They have never been incentivized in the past to make that shift, but when they are, things shift.

Anyone who isn’t wondering about global warming this past week when it was 60 in NYC and 38 in LA should have their head examined.

The technology has been there for decades, but we can point to lobbyists for large companies making sure that change doesn’t happen. Better to keep things the same from the companies in power that own the market share of particular industries. It is no different than the “good old boys” running things forever, making it difficult for new companies to shift the narrative. I am so over it.

Remember that Jimmy Carter believed in harnessing power from the sun for energy to move away from our dependence on foreign oil. He put incentives in place for that, including installing solar panels on the White House. Not shocking, Ronald Reagan gutted all R&D tax incentives for a then-fledging industry. If we look back on our nation, it was all downhill from there.

The next decade of solar and electric is a positive. What have other industries been held back because of money moving from one pocket to the other to keep the game from ever-changing?