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Comment by mwint | Hacker News Reader

Importantly, it’s a band-aid that consumers (especially in the US) can be convinced to want - EVs are fun to drive!

Versus the “right” solution, which is near impossible to sell to the populace.

EVs are going to drive out gasoline for very comparable reasons to digital cameras driving out film cameras. That's a win for CO2, a win for air pollution in cities (that may be shaving points off people's IQ and definitely is shaving years off their lives), and a win for fungibility of energy generation. As gasoline infrastructure withers, it will be a win for retaining progress; it will no longer be possible to go back.

None of these things end car culture, but switching away from gasoline may help to de-fang it by reducing the macho attraction. If cars become just about getting from A to B, then alternatives may start to look more viable.

It's also a win for reducing oil dependency for many nations. Many of the oil producing countries are not always the most savory characters, and energy independence is an important national security goal in itself

One which can be obtained the good way, or the bad way, yes. EVs will reduce pressure to allow damaging pipelines and shale oil.

And perhaps more importantly, there isn’t miles of red tape and NIMBYism to overcome to be able to roll out EVs.

I’m strongly in favor of nationwide electric rail, but I also know that accomplishing that will be nearly impossible short of the federal government steamrolling it through, which itself is unlikely due to oil and auto lobbying.

So I see it as a sort of, “take what you can get” situation.

I could see both those lobbies being much reduced after the EV changeover.

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