CBS reality check

[RAM]

CBS the past two days has made a big issue of Norway's trend to electric cars (nearly a third). They are to be commended. And recharging is no problem as the govt. has set up stations on practically every corner. Special lanes exist for them. Neat. No sales tax on electrics (25 percent on new cars-Man,THAT'S a savings!) . Almost all electricity is hydro-power or solar. No need for coal steam plants. Some gas generation, however. Little or no pollution. The govt there has plenty of money. That is fortunate. The source of that wealth was not mentioned by CBS as I recall.

Norway exports their share (plus) of pollution. Their major export is atmospheric carbon. It is also their principal source of national wealth. In October, 2015 Norway's average DAILY oil production was 1.9 million bbls. On an annual basis that amounts to about 700,000,000 bbls. (somebody multiply that by $42 per bbl. for me please ). Not bad for a very small country that is very green-again, commendable.

Bad Bob

[Tightlines666]

Nothing but lies and statistics... or misinformation if you will. I for one am a fan of the use of more electric cars, and small diesel engines (prevalent in Europe), but unavailable here in the US (except that one VW that was a fail). Diesel is highly underrated, and gets a bad rap with regards to emissions. Energy consumption, efficiency, and production emmissions, energy costs, and biproducts are largely misrepresented in my humble opinion. Not to stray from your intended topic Mr. Bob.

[Mike N]

A question I've always had is what or who slowed the development of the electric car? The first electric cars were being produced as early as 1880, over 135 years ago.

Just compare it to the cell/mobile phone's evolution. Motorola produced the first hand held mobile phone in 1973. Some 45 years later, there are an estimated 7 billion cell phones in use. The iPhone 5S has 2.7 times more computing power than the 1985 Cray-2 supercomputer.

In other words, had electric cars developed at that same pace, can you imagine any us driving a gasoline powered motor vehicle? What happened to hold back the electric car? Big Oil?

[RAM]

High cost, low top speed, and short range meant early electrics could not compete with internal combustion engine cars. Henry Ford made them available to the average American at a cost they could afford. They left electrics in the dust-or sitting plugged in somewhere.

My point of the post had little to do with electric cars but rather the fact of Norway's major ( by far ) export being crude oil and refined petroleum which results in the production of atmospheric carbon. They burn very little of their produced oil but it is all burnt. They ( the Norwegian govt.) use the income from that burnt by others to subsidize their electric car promotion. Their "green" image in reality is a bit browner than meets the eye. CBS never mentioned that.

[Midway Tommy D]

A hypocritical government in this day and age? Who would have ever thought?

Tom