Unintended Consequences

Wow, I think that the Gasoline companies and their distributors really stepped on their own dicks this time in their unrestrained efforts to maximize profits on the sale of gas. As a result of their unreasonable money grab in the price of gas they have created a huge demand for e-vehicles. 1/3 of Americans now want an e-vehicle, not a gas-guzzler of any kind. In 2019, just before COVID-19, gas sales were $512 billion and with the rapid transition (as quickly as the e-vehicles can be produced) that means that $170 Billion of gas sales are going to evaporate. That market and related sales will be gone. Wow.

Okay, good riddance! They deserve it.

This is going to really accelerate what the EPA had been attempting to accomplish; a transition away from fossil fuel that creates global warming to a green economy. This is not going to make our Supreme Court Justices very happy for attempting to hog-tie the EPA by the recent Supreme Court ruling, which favors the coal industry for the moment. Now the auto industry really has a huge profit incentive to make the transition from gas engines to e-power. Cool!

Car companies now have huge demand for e-cars; thus they are going to dramatically increase production capacity (while reducing production of gas driven vehicles), accelerate the development of more e-car platforms (converting current gas models to e-vehicles), huge increases in R&D investments in batteries and other related e-technologies. All for the good of man-kind. Thank you.

Btw, if you have not been following what the e-muscle cars are doing, it will rock your socks. When you consider the implementation of quad-power, which is an e-motor for each wheel, it provides acceleration that will snap your head back. Heck, I hear that from folks who have dual e-motors. An e-motor has a direct response that is almost instant compared to a gas motor. And the muscle car folks are taking note.

My guess; the idea of a gas-station on every corner will soon be a thing of the past, just as small towns started to disappear when an interstate highway was built near-by. Purchasing a gas station right might be very wise, perhaps at best a short-term investment, not a long-term investment. Likewise, small oil refineries should be giving very serious thought to anyone who wants to buy them (and consider what stock you want to own).

Likewise, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out if your car and most of your house is on electricity, then converting a home to solar energy becomes a no-brainer. So I expect to see an up-tick in the solar energy technologies as well; higher efficient solar conversion to electricity, better home batteries, and at some point, a reduction in cost of the solar equipment and installation. Which of course is going to impact the coal producing companies, as less coal is needed for power generation, while more and more people generate their own electrical power and start to reduce their use of the electrical grid. Which of course is a goal of the EPA and those who want to see a reduction in global warming (read somewhere that coal generated electricity is the number one contributor to global warming).

So I guess we should give a big thank you to idiots of the gasoline industry for waking up Americans to the need to convert to e-vehicles. It appears America is going to complete that conversion much sooner than anticipated. Oh yes, I have an old SUV gas-guzzler which I am already committed to purchasing an e-vehicle as a replacement in the next year or so. I am on this e-band-wagon!

Cheers & make every day an Earth Day

Doug

____

Pre-publication Sale: The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, an artist book from Singular Images Press, the artist book is $50.00 USD (regularly $60.00) & the Artist Special Edition (book + print) $100.00 USD (regularly $125.00), plus CA taxes for US sales and shipping. This special price ends in July. Message me (doug@douglasstockdale.com) or singularimagespress@gmail for shipping details and PayPal invoice.

Call for artwork:

SouthEast Center of Photography (SEC4P) open call for the exhibition The Green Environment, being juried by Douglas Stockdale. Submissions are now open and Submissions Close 7/31/22. For more information about the exhibition, here.

Book workshop:

Southeast Center for Photography (SEC4P): Creative PhotoBook workshop (Sold Out), a virtual event on Zoom; November 5 & 6 and 12 & 13, 2022, 10am – 1pm, EST (3 hour session each day, with a week between the weekend sessions to work your book-dummy). Wait list available for sign-up.