RE: Electric cars and Decentralized energy
Electric cars have their issues, but I don't think they are insurmountable.
Many had a problem with their low range, which I think has actually been addressed by the latest generation of electric cars. Even electric cars from many years ago could already do well for standard travel within a city. Now they're even good enough that you can travel between cities, even if they aren't exactly incredibly close. Then you can either swap out a battery, if need be, or stop for a charge. The new graphene batteries will make this a complete non-issue, as you'll likely be able to drive nearly non-stop for a day or more.
Then you have the issue of where the energy comes from, but that's not actually an issue of the electric cars, but the fact that many governments haven't addressed the issue of the number of coal factories and other such negative power plants in certain countries. Having electric cars just brings the issue more to the forefront.
China is quickly becoming the main producer of solar cells and wind turbines, but again, this is not the fault of the electric cars. We need to address such issues separately. Countries could easily help fund local plants to produce such things, as well as the electric cars themselves.
There could also be an argument as to the amount of energy needed to produce electric cars, but once again, I believe this is an issue that needs to be addressed separately.
I think the main issue is one that's not often considered, mining. You see, the batteries used currently are lithium-ion, which require a lot of dirty mining in certain countries. It's not necessarily an issue though, if we put money into different graphene battery tech. Graphene allows for much better batteries, as far as power density, such that we could choose to use much more environmentally friendly battery technologies, and still have quite a bit of range.
Low range is really only an issue with long distances without stopping points, somethin that isn't an issue in many places.
The furthest I ever need to travel without stopping is Helsinki which is under 200 km away and there are charging points along the way just in case anyway.
There could also be an argument as to the amount of energy needed to produce electric cars, but once again, I believe this is an issue that needs to be addressed separately.
Yep, i think they are separate issues also as they are changes that need to be made whether for cars or not. Having the cars just speeds it up hopefully.
Again, this will change as you noted and graphene looks promising.
I didn't want to quote exact ranges, because I mostly do imperial measurements, and I would have had to look them up. But, I did this time.
I think in the 300+ mile range (482km+), that's pretty much licking most long range trips, especially considering we've had battery technology recently jump, and the next generation batteries are even better. If we also put in maglevs big enough to transport the cars cross country, you wouldn't even need to charge. Technically you could charge one on a train, while you sat in the dining car, or some sort of entertainment hall. Perhaps an arcade. Now that would be cool.
I'm not a huge fan of electric cars as the sole solution TBH. I'm a fan of making public transport the priority. But we might naturally progess to maglev between cities and small electric vehicles in the city that are free, or rentable. With electric cars becoming cheaper, and self driving becoming a reality, there will be companies that start to pop up all over the place offering cheap as hell rides. Less and less people in major cities own cars as it is. Imagine when you can get a ride anywhere for a fraction of an hours work.
But for the time now, I would say buy a good electric that you like, planning on selling it in the next few years and buying a new longer range one. With that in mind, you might even consider used. In 3-5 years, they're going to be insane distances. In 10-15 years, exponentially more than that.
There are so many variables in the future but they need o start happening now. Yes, public transport should take long range anyway. Self-driving private/txi/mixed fr the shuttling to specific destinations. I think that if the world was a better place, there would be more movement toward seeing how good we can be instead of what ever this current nonsense is we are doing now. Half the global expenditure on military and put it into funding clean tech solutions and healthcare.