New state data show that while there has been some progress in the transition to electric vehicles on Martha’s Vineyard, the Island still has a mountain to climb when it comes to going emission-free by 2040.
Just about 5 percent of registered cars on the Vineyard — out of about 27,000 registered vehicles total — are either hybrid electric or fully electric.
The new data recently released by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is part of a new state database that allows users to see the progress each municipality is making in the effort to introduce electric cars.
More locally, the database shows that Chilmark and Aquinnah have the highest percentage of electric-vehicle drivers on the Island. About 8 percent of registered cars in the two up-Island towns are electric or hybrid. That’s out of about 500 vehicles registered in Aquinnah and just under 2,000 in Chilmark.
The lowest percentage on the Vineyard is Oak Bluffs, where 4 percent of registered cars are electric or hybrid, out of 6,500.
For Islanders pushing for electrification, the new state dashboard — called Massachusetts Electric Census — is exciting, but it also highlights the daunting task to reach an emission-free Island by 2040. Town meetings across the Island have endorsed the goal.
Bill Lake, member of the Aquinnah climate and energy committee, says the committee has been looking for a tool to measure the town’s progress of introducing electrification. This new dashboard is that very tool. “It’s making it easier for us,” Lake said of tracking the Island’s progress.
Lake suggests that the Vineyard is actually an ideal location for the transition to electric, and information shared in the database backs it up. The Vineyard is a relatively small area of travel, at least compared with the rest of the state. The new dashboard shows that registered vehicles in Massachusetts travel on average about 26 miles in a day. For the Vineyard, the average distance is about 19 miles per day. Lake says that allows Islanders to charge up overnight, without worry of running low on a charge during the day.
Also, the Island is largely made up of single-family homes, which makes it easier to plug in a car overnight for charging. Cities made up of largely multifamily apartment buildings will require multiple charging stations in a smaller area.
“An Island like Martha’s Vineyard is a perfect place for an electric car,” Lake said. “There really is no sacrifice.”
But the dashboard also reveals the daunting task ahead. Lake says that he’s expecting the rollout to intensify as the production of electric cars ramps up, and the cars become more popular. He says that more than costs or ethical issues, the greatest incentive for the switch to electric cars is what your neighbor is up to. “Keeping up with the Joneses,” Lake said. As more Islanders buy electric, the numbers will grow exponentially as the concept becomes more familiar.
But while it will be up to individuals to buy their own cars, Lake says that towns on the Island can take proactive steps to encourage electric use, like installing charging stations around town. Aquinnah has installed two free charging stations — one at the town hall, and one at the Cliffs —- which he said could be helping residents go electric.
But Lake says that also important is communicating with the public about the incentives for buying an electric car, and letting residents get used to the idea. Recently, during Earth Day in April, a number of Island nonprofits held a bit of an electric car show, where roughly two dozen electric cars and trucks were on display. Curious onlookers could ask questions and get an inside look at the vehicles. Lake says that more of these events will help the transition.
Martha’s Vineyard is progressing slightly quicker than the rest of the state when it comes to the transition. Statewide, Massachusetts has about 70,000 zero-emission passenger vehicles and more than 150,000 hybrid vehicles registered since the beginning of the year, compared with 4.5 million vehicles powered by fossil fuels. That’s 4.4 percent of vehicles that are hybrid or electric. The Vineyard is 4.7 percent.
Lexington, a suburb west of Boston, has the highest percentage, where 14.2 percent of registered vehicles are zero-emission or hybrid models, the dashboard shows.
State officials say the idea behind the dashboard is to help the state reduce its carbon footprint.
“This tool will allow us to track our progress toward our climate goals as it relates to vehicle usage, and the data collected will help guide our decisionmaking around how to allocate resources and investments across the commonwealth to achieve a greener and healthier future,” Melissa Hoffer, the Healey administration’s climate chief, is quoted in a story by the State House News Service.
State data finds that the transportation sector accounts for about 42 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts. The Baker administration said last year that state officials need to get at least 200,000 passenger electric vehicles on the road by 2025, and 900,000 in use by 2030, to reach the state climate goals of getting net-zero emissions by 2050.
Electric cars make Conservative heads explode.
We don’t want them
We do want them.
More and more of us are buying them.
The increase will continue it’s exponential growth rate.
We are going to power them with our wind mills and sun panels.
Getting boat reservations will be much easier.
Fewer gasoline tankers.
No thanks
7.2% said yes thank you.
The sales of EVs is doubling about every two years.
Don’t get left behind in a cloud of burned hydrocarbons.
Real men roll coal.
“Fully-electric vehicles (BEVs) had 7.2% market share in Q1 2023. This is a new all-time record. In Q1 2021, EV market share was just 3.2%.”
my prius hybrid is perfect for MV, i dont use any gas while on the island, plug in at home, which has solar panels.
My elderly Leaf (2011) is still a perfect Island car. Never go to the gas station, practically zero maintenance cost (tires, wiper blades, at long intervals). New, it had a 75 mile range; with the battery capacity dial dropped from 12 bars to 9 it still has 65 miles. New ones go 250. Still have range anxiety off Island? I keep a hybrid car off Island, walk on the ferry any time with no reservation or standby. Cost of parking? A wash if you make ten or a dozen trips off a year.
Selectboards, consider requiring all rental cars to be electric.
Let’s start with a definition. A zero-emission car means neither the vehicle nor the facility which generates its electricity emits pollution. The cleanest and most efficient way of generating electricity without emissions is nuclear, but those who want no emissions are, for the most part, also against nuclear power. Neither the wind nor sun will do. That being said, if the year-round population of the island is less than 25,000 but has 27,000 vehicles, then for the one-third of the year when we have 125,000+ occupants, it is reasonable to assume that the number of vehicles is in excess of 125,000. Doing the math, that means that the average number of vehicles on the island over the course of 12 months is roughly 60,000. Now, all of the visitors coming to the Island from DC, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut will need a car capable of driving at or in excess of 250 miles. I don’t see any of those sources of visitors generating energy which is predominantly, much less exclusively, emission-free so there will be emissions generated by visitors. Most visitors will not leave their cars at home. Consequently, the concept of having an emission-free fleet of 60,000 vehicles on the Island will not only not be achieved by 2040 but in the lifetime of anyone reading this publication unless another nation is capable of achieving a position which allows them to dictate the United States’ behavior. Should that occur, our emissions will be the least of our problems.
Christopher Charging times are coming down, and plenty of money is being invested in charging infrastructure, especially along the highways. The battery technology is improving and continually pushing the range.
Some newer cars, when hooked up to fast chargers can get 80% or about 200 miles of range in under 1/2 hour. I think most people are ready for a bit of a stretch or perhaps a meal after 300 miles.
I think as infrastructure and battery power improves, purchasing an EV will be the financially obvious choice. we won’t need some other country dictating our behavior, the free market will provide the incentive.
I agree about the people who want emissions free without nukes are the majority. But the technology exists to build melt down proof reactors, and safe storage of waste. So I am pro nuke—didn’t think I would ever say that when I was protesting the Seabrook construction in the 70’s, but times change.
The thousands of windmills that are in various stages of planning and construction will certainly alter the equation. It can buy us some time, and hopefully large scale fusion will become a reality in the next 3 or 4 decades.
Zero emissions is a dream , but it’s hard to tell what can transpire over 50 years.
50 years ago, if you wanted to make an overseas phone call, you would get in a cue and an operator would call you when the connection was made.
the Amana Radaranges first started appearing in private households in 1967 for $495.
Virtually no one had a personal computer, or cell phone until about 40 years ago.
Al gore invented the internet in 1994 🙂
Look at the trend line, wind and solar will do.
.6% of the the land area in the US in solar panels can produce all the electricity we currently consume.
Wind turbines have an even higher production per square mile.
Energy storage has become annoyingly cheap.
The future is bright.
In 2023 there are 20 models of electric that have a range of more than 300 miles, they can get 60% of charge in 20 minutes. (my 1990 Northern European Vintage Touring sedan has a range of 212 miles).
On the 2024 horizon is 750 mile range and 10 minutes for 60% charge, from the worlds second largest car maker, enough to round trip DC – MVY.
The nattering nabobs of negativity, in the 1920s, could not stop the demise of the horse as the primary source of personal transportation.
The nattering nabobs of negativity, in the 2020s will not stop the demise of the Internal Combustion Engine as the primary source for personal transportation.
Are you concerned that countries like India will pressure the US to limit it’s per person emissions to no more than ten times that of an Indian?
Has the world benefited from US world dominance?
The vehicles themselves are not zero emissions. They still give off about 20% emissions in brake dust.
James —Right– but it’s “proven” (by my opinion) that people who drive EV’s emit fewer emissions in the form of trash thrown out of their cars.
80% less in fact.
James, absolutely nothing is free.
20% of automobile pollution comes from brakes?
My car goes 50,000 miles on a set of brakes that weigh ~16 pounds.
In 50,000 miles my car burns 15,000 pounds of fuel.
20% of automobile pollution comes from brakes?
Tires pollute at least twice as much as brakes.
Power for personal transportation use to come from horses, then from petroleum fueled engines and now by electric motors.
My great grandparents thought that cars were a fad.
The United States must continue to dictate what the rest of the world must do.
We have a God given right to emit at a per person rate that is ten times the rest of the world.
American Exceptionalism
So the state says we need to almost triple the number of electric cars in the next 18 months and then more than triple that number in the following 5 years to meet their climate goals. It’s never going to happen. It’s obvious people just don’t want to buy a car that can’t take them off island to grandma’s house and probably never will. When will the grown ups step in and abandon these ridiculous goals.
It is no longer a question of if, just how fast.
It may take ten years.
Grandma’s House?
By next year electrics will have a 600+ mile range and 60% charge in ten minutes.
Charging stations are being built out at an exponential rate.
Like gas stations in the 1920s.
The grown ups are buying electrics.
The “children” are clinging to their coal rolling ICEs.
Nothing as sweet as a V8 diesel with flame stacks.
John– Thank you for noticing that these are “goals” and not some sort of deep state conspiracy that is gong to force us to drive electric cars in order to “control” us.
But you are correct about the unattainability of these goals, given the current conditions.
But technology and the times change. I am sure there will always be some Luddite holdouts who will never get an electric car, even if the range of them increases to a thousand miles and they can be fully charged in 5 minutes with free roadside electricity.
It’s just too good of an idea, and it really does smack of liberal environmentalism.
Who are “they” to say that we don’t have the god given right to to wipe out most life (including humans) on earth.
We good patriotic moral Americans are much more concerned with saving a few blobs of cells that could potentially become a sapiens to worry about how many existing sapiens are going to die “somewhere else”. I get it– I watch fox “news” sometimes.
Don, deal with reality. There are no cars that can be charged in 5 minutes or travel a thousand miles on a charge. When that happens and they cost the same as a fossil car then the market will obviously determine who wins. I’m betting on a gas vehicle probably forever.
John– Of course that technology does not exist now–
I didn’t say it did.
Deal with what I wrote.
There are trade offs on everything– t
here is no need for a car company to make a vehicle
(gas or electric) with a range of a thousand miles.
So the market has to determine what the range
should be. Will people pay extra for every increased
mile of range over about 300 ?
There are many ev’s on the market with ranges
over 350 miles . And that number is increasing as
technology improves.
The median range of gas cars is 403 miles.
The range anxiety will persist until the
infrastructure for charging improves– too bad we lost
4 years dithering over a wall rather than improving
our infrastructure.
My guess is that if this were 1907 (just before the
model “T” release” ), you would be betting on the
horse. And yup, there are still plenty of them around.
John, deal with the reality.
The world’s second largest car manufacturer has a 2024 model that has 700 hundred mile and will take 60 percent of charge in ten minutes.
The future is electric, the dinosaurs will continue to roll coal until they die off.
Welcome to modernity.
My boss purchased a Tesla recently and is regretting it now. He purchased a modest model and it still cost him a hefty payment every month. The inconvenience of the time it takes to charging the vehicle is very frustrating. His electric bill at home has increased noticeably and we all know that the rates are not dropping. He blew out a tire recently and it cost over $400.00 for the replacement. The buyers remorse is painful to watch.
Most of us in my circle can not afford these cars and have all we can do to maintain what we already have. Besides, no matter how much we do here in the US all in the name of saving the planet, there are other nations that are doing 0 and polluting beyond what any of us actually realize. I spent 2 weeks in Manilla and you are forced to wear something (mask/bandana) over your face to avoid breathing in the pollution that is all around you. It is all in vain my friends.
richard
You mention your bosses’ electric bill going up.
And he has a payment on it.
You don’t mention what his payment would be if he had bought a comparable gas car. ( they are about the same price you know)
You also don’t mention that he has paid zero dollars for gas since he got it. And the price of gas isn’t going down either.
And how much does your boss pay for an oil change ?
And as far as I know, you can plug your Tesla into your home charger in about 30 seconds, and drive for the next 250 miles or so.
How long does it take your boss to drive down to the gas station, wait in line, and then wait while the attendant fills her tank up.
I think getting gas takes about 8 minutes on average. And an average car gets about 300 miles.
Plugging your Tesla in and unplugging it takes less than a minute.
So 8 minutes of actual time put in by the owner for an EV gets about
800 miles if it gets charged at 40% .
Is there something special about a Tesla tire ?
I guess if a gas car blows out a tire, it’s free to replace ?
How much time does it take to charge at home?
How much did your friends gas bill go down?
Low rolling resistance tires are expensive, but not as expensive as turbocharger.
“of saving the planet, there are other nations that are doing 0 and polluting beyond what any of us actually realize.” is false.
The US per person emissions are more than three times the rest of the world.
What are Manilla’s per person emissions?
What would Manilla be like if they were 80+% EV.
The solution to pollution is reduction, everywhere.
“It is all in vain my friends.”
Should we all just give up?
There is nothing that we can do?
We should just keep making more filth to wallow in?
Richard. “The buyer’s remorse is painful” for you to watch? You can’t afford such things as Teslas, your boss can, but your boss complains to you, a subordinate employee, about costs of things they can afford but you never will? Sure. No wonder it’s painful for you.
And mask mandates ended all over the world. There are currently alerts for poor air quality here in this country, no need to go to Manila. Many with breathing problems elect to wear a mask outdoors, a helpful way to control their asthma, COPD, and weakened lung condition. Do you or your boss have a problem with that? If you don’t like electric cars, say so, and why.
Furthermore – before buying an EV, some might want to know where the electricity is going to come from to power it. It’s not magic pixie dust and still has to be “made.” And the administration is closing electric power “making” facilities as fast as they can and predicting power outages. Too bad no one likes nuclear power. You;d think no Jen had learned anything in physics in the last 50 years.
Annie– That’s why we are building wind farms as fast as we can.
Since you mention physics;
https://phys.org/news/2019-05-coal-power-trump.html
Yup– 50 coal burning facilities that “generate”
electricity shut down during the trump administration.
That’s more than one a month. Under the guy who said he would bring coal back.
So what happened ?
Well, the simple answer is that the natural gas fracking boom made coal obsolete, and coal burning plants were decommissioned and replaced by more cost effective natural gas burners.
Total electrical generation in the U.S has steadily increased — year over year with the one exception of the pandemic disruption. In the U.S .We used 500 billion more commercial KWH’s in 2022 than we did in 2000. That does not include the dramatic increase in private homes and businesses installing solar capacity.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php
I go to fox “news” sometimes, and notice a lot of ads from companies predicting widespread power failures in the U.S as the main reason we all need to have “survival” food and generators.
They are selling something based on fear. And they have fertile ground on right wing media.
But I have not seen any member of the current administration predicting power outages– unless we count the weather departments ahead of sever weather, which seems to be happening more often.
But back to power generation– the current administration is permitting and encouraging private companies to install thousands of “power making facilities” as fast as they can.
You might want to check out this:
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/electricity-generation-from-wind.php#:~:text=Wind%20electricity%20generation%20has%20increased%20significantly&text=Total%20annual%20U.S.%20electricity%20generation,U.S.%20utility%2Dscale%20electricity%20generation.
The administration shut down Plymouth Nuclear.
The Trump Administration.
In addition to sealing our Southern Boarder.
Why do you have made in quotation marks?
my prius hybrid is the perfect MV car, i never by gas and plug in at home, which has solar panels
I can see going electric for a daily on-island driver, but until Chappy has charging infrastructure that includes diesel backup for times when the power is out and the solar panels are covered in snow, there will always be an ICEV in my driveway.
One cannot pour electricity into a portable gas can and then carry it to the vehicle. It may be a microcosm by size, but Chappy is a good example of why people in rural areas still distrust BEVs.
People with electric cars that go to Chappy do not need charging stations on Chappy.
People with electric cars on Chappy have electricity/charging stations.
Clear your solar panels.
Do you have diesel backup for your house?
Like Naushon and Cuttyhunk, Chappy is an excellent place for electric vehicles, no range anxiety, never more than a few miles from electricity.
One can carry a battery to a vehicle.
A standard car battery, and an inverter can give you five miles.
Chappy is not rural, most of it has electricity.
Naashon is rural.
I have a gas/hybrid electric plug-in. Gets 50+ miles on an overnight standard plug charge. Gets another 400+ gas/hybrid miles when electric runs out. Four wheel drive.
Never buy gas on island. No range anxiety. Plenty of interior space. Roof rack for kayaks etc. Great highway acceleration.
so, Kevin. let me ask you, if the Vineyard has a total power failure and we are getting nothing from the New England power grid, do those diesel generators on state road kick on, and provide no power to Chappy ?
You know, given the wealth on that exclusive island, you would think the people there would figure out a way to insulate themselves from power outages.
It’s pretty clear after all, that there will be issues in the future– so do the residents of Chappy just whine, and ask for some government handout . or do they do something to protect themselves ?
Electric cars will save the planet about as well as plastic bags saved the trees.
Plastic bags save the trees from being God awful ugly
As a man of God I hope that you appreciate the natural beautiful of trees.
That you don’t want to see them skanked out like some US Trump Flag with a pimp worthy gold fringe and braids.
With your background in science and the on going growth of electric car sales what is your prediction on future growth?
Hess, electric cars will continue to be produced and in some cases mandated by regulation. Many of them will be subsidized by the government which increases our debt. Lithium mining today in relatively small quantities will expand greatly and when it does people will wake up to exactly what harm lithium mining and production does to the ecosystem and they will cringe when they find out it is worse than fossil fuels damage. The best option for cars is nuclear but that is a long way off. Climate worry and fear creates unintended consequences.
Nuclear powered cars?
What could go wrong?
andrew, lithium is in the process of being eliminated from BEV batteries, as we speak.
When will people wake up to exactly what harm hydrocarbon extraction
and production does to the ecosystem
“lithium is in the process of being eliminated from BEV batteries, as we speak.”
Hmm, that must explain why lithium mines are being opened up in Cornwall, UK (but the owners are French), a region that thought it had left its destructive mining history far behind.
A somewhat rare instance of the depredations of mining becoming more visible in the first world.
But not too visible: The area is off-limits to civvies from the neighborhood who would like to find out more about the operation.
For those who seek balance in these discussions of the true costs of different types of energy, energy production, actual investment levels required by renewables, energy return on energy invested (EROI), etc., might wish to watch this video presentation, “The Unpopular Truth about Electricity and the Future of Energy,” by Dr. Lars Schernikau, a German energy economist and investment advisor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiHrCjqP4KQ
“Nissan: The company has unveiled its prototype production facility of solid-state battery cells, aiming to launch an EV with the new batteries by 2028. A pilot production line is expected four years earlier, in 2024.”
“lithium is in the process of being eliminated from BEV batteries, as we speak.”
“The Unpopular Truth about Electricity and the Future of Energy,”, pure click bait.
Pistons, valves, camshafts, turbochargers, mufflers, heads, a gas tank, a few hundred bearings, not to mention all the fun and expensive parts in a transmission are being replaced by some copper windings and two bearings.
It may take ten years to phase out lithium.
“For those who seek balance in these discussions of the true costs of different types of energy, energy production”, Look at the environmental degradation in hydrocarbons extraction, processing, and burning.
Common sense. Thank you.
Commonsense is to reduce hydrocarbon extraction, processing and use.
Andy –you know, since they banned the plastic bags, I see very few
of them stuck in the beach grass between OB and Edgartown.
You could regularly count 20 or 30 of them on any given day.
I know how you like your part time Island to look tidy.
Wait a minute, 27000 vehicles registered on the island. Isn’t the permanent population closer to 17000?
So that means at least 10k vehicles are unattended through the off season. Probably more, since not everybody drives, though some own multiples.
How do BEVs behave when they just sit? Are there any data or studies about how and whether they act up after extended disuse? After they drain entirely? Lead-acid batteries are never the same after even one complete discharge, and all batteries leak charge. One could come back in April to find a boat anchor with a Tesla badge on it.
according to the 2020 census, the vineyard had a population of 20,600.
I have 2 vehicles–
For about $20 you can get a small solar charger to keep your battery topped off.
A good percentage of car batteries spend more than a year in production warehouses, distribution centers and and retailers shelves before they are sold.
EV batteries have a lower self discharge rate than car batteries.
People with full size brains and will leave their BEVs on a trickle charge when away for extended periods of time.
The same as ice cars.
Never going to happen
You can’t reason with crazy people
Your solar panels are not charging your car a fossil fueled generation plant is and always will
Your solar panels which are future hazardous waste are nothing but a scam making lots of people rich
Please do lots of homework before you put solar on your house or buy an ev
Crazy people think that you cannot completely power your car and home with wind, solar and batteries, 24/365.
John– your empty beer can is hazardous waste if you simply
throw it out the window of your car.
There are hundreds of companies around the world with thousands
of plants that recycle solar panels. The recovery rate for usable
materials is 90% plus. What percentage of an offshore oil rig
is recycled when the well runs dry ? Would you consider an
abandoned oil rig with a “cap” on the well head hazardous
waste ? It’s just standing in the ocean waiting to rust away and sink.
They don’t even make an effort…..
Who’s making the money ? You may have heard that while you were
paying over $5 a gallon for gas, the 4 biggest oil companies
made $200 billion dollars in 2022. Biden didn’t do it.
While that was happening , the price of solar panels dropped.
There were 80 billionaires that run oil companies as of 2020.
But back to recycling solar panels
It’s gonna create lots of green jobs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXNVqPqKhdg
Keller it is easy to throw out a large number like 200 billion as its a lot and somehow too much. Return on Investment or ROI measures the gain or loss generated on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. You calculate ROI by dividing your total returned net revenue by the total net invested capital. Much of the greater profit for oil came from climate policies of this government.
Ok– I will try again and not mention the fact that I think you support the people who are running the oil companies.
They are thieves—That $200 billion was record profits–Is there some acceptable level for ROI ? Or is it just a case of if you put $ 1 million in and get a Billion back, the ROI is 1000 to one.
When does it become unacceptable ?
If you’re building widgets, and are making a ROI of 1,000 times, somebody is going to undercut your price .
But if you are the oil companies, people have no alternative except pay through the nose.
And I thought you have claimed that the climate policies of this administration
are destroying jobs and hobbling the oil companies.
It is not how large the number is Keller. It is how large the capital expenditure is to earn the profit.. If you earned 100k in one month but invested 96k to earn it, its not such a big deal.
Let’s get real about recycling solar panels.
Lesson no. 1.
Recycling is not “free.” It requires energy.
Often, a LOT of energy.
Solar panels are complicated and expensive (that danged energyj!!!) to recycle because they contain so many different materials.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/recycling/Solar-panels-face-recycling-challenge-photovoltaic-waste/100/i18
“. . . experts say this astonishing growth in low-carbon power is also a ticking time bomb.
“More than 90% of photovoltaic (PV) panels rely on crystalline silicon and have a life span of about 30 years. Forecasts suggest that 8 million metric tons (t) of these panels will have reached the end of their working lives by 2030, a tally that is projected to reach 80 million t by 2050 (Nat. Energy 2020, DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-0645-2). But today’s technologies for recycling these units are inefficient and rarely deployed.
“That is an enormous problem. PV panels contain toxic materials, like lead, that can cause environmental pollution, yet many are dumped in landfills when they die. They also contain valuable materials that could be reused to make new solar cells, but today these resources are mostly wasted.
“In the US, there are no federal regulations to mandate PV recycling, and according to the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, less than 10% of the country’s decommissioned panels are recycled. Even in the European Union, where legislation requires PV recycling, many waste facilities merely harvest bulk materials like aluminum frames and glass covers, which make up over 80% of a silicon panel’s mass. The remaining mass is often incinerated, even though it contains elements like silver, copper, and silicon, which together account for two-thirds of the monetary value of a silicon panel’s materials.
“Companies and researchers are now racing to prepare for the looming tsunami of PV waste. . . . ”
Do Island landfills have any plans for recycling or dealing with solar panels?
Are select boards making plans for a solar panel recycling facility on the solar-happy Island?
I didn’t think so. That is some other community’s—or country’s–problem. For us it’s just a transport problem. Maybe Falmouth will open a recycling facility. Close enough to transport the solar panels to in EV trucks!! Via our EV ferries!
Katherine Scott is one of a very few people who stand up against error.
The towns have been dealing with waste for decades.
Waste batteries.
Waste tires.
Waste cars.
Waste appliances.
Waste paper.
Waste metals.
Human waste.
Maybe in thirty years the Island will generate enough solar panel waste to fill a forty foot dump trailer, a year.
In thirty years electric trucks and ferries will be the norm.
Forward thinking countries like Sweden have them now.
Welcome to modernity.
Like the Island, Falmouth ships it’s recyclables off cape to be dealt with in poor communities.
John– I have a friend who has solar panels, is very conservative about electric use, and has an EV truck that he converted himself. He has passive solar heat, a solar water heater on his roof for hot water, and the house is designed to hold heat. He also knows the value of wearing long John’s in the winter. About 10 months a year, he gets a check from the electric company for the surplus electric he sells to them.
How is it that some fossil fuel plant is charging his vehicle ?
John, I was just at house showing in Marion.
The owners had solar installed five years ago.
Their electric bill had been around $200 a month year around, $300+ in the summer.
Since installation they have been paying $136 a month to the owners of the solar panels.
The owners of the solar panels pay all the electric company charges.
They stopped using their gas fueled heat pump and went with window air and electric heaters.
These people did their homework.
You have to be careful out there.
So many of the people who do “home improvements” are scammers.
In 2009 I wrote an 84 page white paper (draft copy) on the environment. By the time I finished research I called it “2030 – The Final Illusion. ” Basically, we are kidding ourselves.
On the transportation sector issue thumbers then predicted we would reach 50% cars and light trucks would indeed reach 50% electric. But a total of 2 billion vehicles in 2050 would be double the 1 billion in 2009 and so there would be a billion of each making the situation far worse.
Recently calculations for emissions from lawns in the United States indicate that if all of the lawns in the country were converted to natural plantings and all machinery and landscaping was limited to hand work by owners it would save 50 times the emissions of all highway driving by all cars and trucks. It would also provide massive feeding for birds, bees, and create a much quieter lifestyle with flowering and green beneficial species that would clean our ponds and cool our ari.
That will never happen. It would be too radical and too painful.
But it would be possible to avert extinction. We just can not and so it is impossible. It is just the way it is. ( I posted my calculations and asked for people to check them. No one did. I could be wrong. But it appears to be the case ) My paper was revue-ed and published. )
It stated that 2030 would come and go and Co2 would continue to climb.
Are electrics making it climb faster?
Time is less kind to Internal Combustion Engines than to batteries.
EV batteries self drain at about 7% a month.
After 12 months you should have enough range to get anywhere in the Island.
Due to stuck float switches on bilge pumps I driven many a boat battery (same as a car) to zero that have gone on to many more years of service.
Change always come hard, people get set in there ways.
Best part of an Island EV? No Maintenance. No mechanic telling you they might be able to fix your car in 3 months. We have a 2019 gas truck and an EV sedan. Truck has been in the shop at least 10 times in the last 3 years for oil changes, repairs, etc. EV has been in the shop 0 times. And it costs only 8 cents/mile charging as opposed to almost 26 cents per mile for the truck. From a standpoint of pure fiscal practicality, EV’s win.
Most people cannot afford a new electric car. They purchase cars that are 5 – 10 years old when they can.
The tax incentives do not benefit those making $35,000 a year or not paying any taxes.
Convince the affluent to purchase electric cars and replace them often.
Maybe yearly
We don’t need new electric cars.
We need used ones.
Poor people do not usually travel far.
But they don’t want a leaf. They want a 10 year old Rivian.
The majority of people on the Island can afford new electric cars.
On average the people on the Island are not anywhere near poor.
What percentage of houses are over a million dollars.
“The majority of people on the Island can afford new electric cars.”
Wow!
Please back up this statement with some stats.
Maybe I am richer than I realized!
I expect that many of the EVs on the Island are second vehicles.
Do we have stats on this?
Stand at five corners for an hour or two and total up the average fair market retail value of the cars that go by.
It’s not rocket science.
“Most people cannot afford a new electric car.” Please back up this statement with some stats.
The majority of households on the island have more than one car.
Why do you consider second vehicles to be a factor?
The value of your house during these recent R E boom years is in no way reflective of wealth or the ability to purchase over priced vehicles.
If EVs are so bad why do their sales continue to increase exponentially?
Nope not at all. And this is from a decidedly liberal source.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2023/05/08/ev-sales-2023-slowing/70188358007/
There is nothing Liberal about USA Today.
They employ no news people.
It’s a clickbait operation.
They made money from you.
“Fully-electric vehicles (BEVs) had 7.2% market share in Q1 2023. This is a new all-time record. In Q1 2021, EV market share was just 3.2%.”
https://caredge.com/guides/electric-vehicle-market-share-and-sales.
And this is from a decidedly technical source.
Yes, EV market share is doubling every two years.
In 2008 I purchased a Toyota Yaris. I could be wrong, but I think there’s only two of us on-Island. It needs a paint job, but it’s only got 40K miles on it, a testament to Island driving. Twice a year it goes to the mechanic here, again on-Island, for a check-up and adjustments. I get about 40-45 mpg. (A man with a giant Ford Explorer claimed the same mileage the other day — in his dreams — and then huffily said he was in the oil and gas business and he’s going to drive this monstrous vehicle forever.) And indeed, the only problem has been large SUVs and trucks blocking my vision in and out of parking lots. And of course the hilarious folks (men) who tell me “Oh, I didn’t see you; you’re so small! Where’s the rest of your car?”
Sarah–I have a mini—It will blow the doors off of any of those gas hogs—
I bought it the day after donald trump became president elect in2016.
I have not been asked about where the rest of my car is, but I were, I would say it’s still in the bank.
Yup– those $60 k SUV’s that get 12 mpg sure are a smart financial purchase. But it does let the rest of us know who’s compensating for what…
I also get a kick out of watching them try to park.
And by the way, I am “related” to the other Yaris owner.
Hope you never get in a head on or a T bone accident. God forbid ! You are toast or near toast in that Yaris ! Check NHTSA stats ! But with slower Vineyard island speeds you may be saved.