You’re probably cheering on the outsourcing of techworkers too, right? Who cares about the safety of the people building the things we want to buy cheaply, right?

Protectionism can go too far and often does, but it isn’t unnecessary for healthy societies. Free, unregulated trade isn’t always the right answer.

If people in townhomes, condos, and apartments can conveniently charge while sleeping, they’ll switch eventually if it saves them money.

More expensive upfront, negating all of the benefit of lower power costs for years. And huge expense on the horizon with an uncertain timing for battery replacement that negates secondary market value at some point.

Any journalist knows that when you reveal your sources, you find it harder to have any useful sources and you become less relevant.

I hope this isn’t part of a disinformation campaign, but if it is, it’s an impressive commitment to disinformation.

harness it,

Getting more efficient and cost effective at a rapid pace. Still some environmental concerns over manufacturing, raw materials acquisition, and disposal of old equipment.

store it,

Getting more efficient and cost effective at a less rapid pace. Still significant environmental concerns over manufacturing, raw materials acquisition, and disposal of old equipment.

then distribute it.

Lots of effort and resources needed for this part. Need to subsidize consumer appliance conversion better.

Personally I’d support subsidizing it, but I doubt that’ll happen.

A lot of us in this community probably thinking the same thing. Unfortunately the subsidies in place are written for the benefit of the large manufacturers to sell SUV and Pickup EVs only.

The one you linked was started by a subsidiary of GM (hence the name GEM), but it has since been sold off.

Fun fact, “jersey barriers” have become ineffective for many of the SUVs and Pickup trucks on the roads in the USA due to the size of those vehicles.

They’re called Utility Transport Vehicles and they’re priced in the $15k to $30k range. China subsidizes a lot of the manufacturing of electric vehicles and PV panels and still has a large advantage in labor costs over North American manufacturing of the same. There’s no realistic way to complete with those advantages. So the question becomes, should NAFTA members subsidize the same or should the North American population be given the benefit of Chinese subsidies in the form of cheap utility vehicles or do they protect the North American manufacturing industry by keeping high tarrifs in place?

Citation count has been and continues to be the defacto measure of research importance.