We live on free energy, free as in "dig a hole and voilà": energy. No nuclear, no solar, no wind can replace the sheer amount of energy we extract out of oil and coal. I’m afraid privacy in cars is going to be the least of humanity’s problems unless we make fusion working.
> No nuclear, no solar, no wind can replace the sheer amount of energy we extract out of oil and coal
What are you basing this on? You realise we have localised grids that go 100% renewable regularly, and could easily keep doing that with electrified transport?
Well sure, we’re consuming more fossil fuels because they’re cheaper. Nothing I’ve seen suggests we can switch primary production to clean sources. It would be more expensive. But that’s far from a hard limit.
I’m genuinely curious if someone is credibly speculating we are unable, versus economically unwilling, to replace fossil fuels with clean options.
My understanding is that there are no clean sources able to replace fossil fuels. Or we would need to cover useful land with solar panels (largely produced in China with coal electricity btw).
Anyway, we should transition to EV and these cars manufacturers bad practices are just keeping old inefficients cars on the streets.
> we would need to cover useful land with solar panels
About the land area of New Mexico, if we went 100% solar [1]. Remove current hydroelectric, potential geothermal and then mix in wind and nuclear, and you have a realistic mix that could replace fossil fuels.