Is Elon Musk Really That Bad?

[MineralMan]

45. Good question.

With production at its current level, it will take a very long time to reach a break-even point in terms of actually saving energy. Just the energy expended in building the factories, mines, lithium processing and other costs involved with EVs, the initial energy expense is huge. Add to that the cost of generating the electricity used to charge his over-powered cars, and to build out a charging network that lets his customers drive wherever they wish, and you have an energy debt that may never be repaid by Tesla owners.

Other auto manufacturers face similar costs. The real benefit will come when there is ample electricity generated from non-fossil-fuel facilities to support EVs along with other demand for electricity. I do not expect that to happen for a very long time, frankly.

Of course it is important to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. However, I don't think EVs are the solution to that, and certainly not in the short term. I won't even go into pollution from battery making and lithium mining. Nope.

However, Musk makes tons of money from the romance of EVs. That's about to go away, though, with dozens of new brands and models coming onto the market. Even Cadillac's Lyriq is about to hit the street.