{"id":43373,"date":"2019-01-31T08:26:20","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T13:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=43373"},"modified":"2019-01-31T08:26:23","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T13:26:23","slug":"the-70-million-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=43373","title":{"rendered":"The $70 Million \u201cInvestment\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The $70 Million \u201cInvestment\u201d<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Electric cars continue to cost lots of money \u2013 contrary to the now-forgotten original point of the exercise, which was once upon a time to find a lower-cost<\/em> alternative to gas-powered cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s gone away because gas is so cheap that \u2013 even with all the add-on taxes (about a fourth of the cost of each gallon) and the cost of regulatory mandates (such as the ethanol mandate) that have made fuel both more expensive and less efficient than it would otherwise be \u2013 finding a cheaper<\/em> source of energy is going to take something spectacular, and battery power isn\u2019t it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That  inconvenient truth plus government subsidization of high-performance luxury-sport cars that happen to be battery-powered has perverted the incentives for electric car development away from economy and efficiency, neither of which are even discussed anymore \u2013 as if it doesn\u2019t matter how much<\/em> money is thrown on the EV bonfire, so long as the flames burn brighter and higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us to the $70 million \u201cinvestment\u201d<\/a> Porsche is making in so-called \u201cfast\u201d chargers for the almost-here Taycan, the company\u2019s first electric high-performance car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cfast\u201d in quotes to make snarky about the abuse of language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n