No. EV adoption is an important goal for the car industry's survival.

If we're talking about the species' survival, I sure hope we can adopt a broader vision than taking a land-hungry and energy-intensive mode of transport, and changing nothing about it except for making it run on batteries.

Thank you for raising that, we need less cars! (More bicycles and related infrastructure would be nice) :D

Less cars is a worthy goal for some people in some places for some activities, and works in tandem with making the cars we do have better.

83% of the US lives in urban areas and the US has the highest transport emissions in the world.

"This doesn't work for literally everyone so let's do this other thing that isn't as good"

Bicycles win when the level of density is still relatively low. If we are serious about efficiency, bikes don't make that more sense. Sufficient density so that most activity can be done on foot, and the rest is mass transit.

Tell it to the large percentage of humanity who doesn’t live in a city; many of whom grow the food you eat, and ship it to your local shop in a truck.

There is no one-shot solution, motorized vehicles are not going away, but switching to EV is an absolute must.

At this point I am not sure EVs are the best option in short to medium term.

Outside of the US there is still a legitimate fear of range anxiety made worse by Musk's announcement.

It seems to me that widespread deployment of hybrids where 95% of daily driving is done on batteries is a more workable approach.

Yes, a smarter mix of options is the way to go. Cars are a one-size-fits-all approach that can't hope to achieve what we need for a sustainable future.

In Perth, Australia, two thirds of all car trips are for distances of less than 5 kilometers. Using cars for these trips is both irrational and a hopelessly profligate use of resources, regardless of how they're powered.

5 kilometers is the kind of distance where even pedal bicycles are competitive with cars in terms of trip time, especially once you factor in traffic. And e-bikes are only getting cheaper and more accessible too.

Inside the us there's also quite a bit of range anxiety. It's one of the larger adoption hold ups.

That and price.

Patiently waiting for a train revolution

California high speed is happening slowly but surely. I think by 2030 the Central Valley will have a real HS line, and while that leaves out SFB/LA, Central Valley is fastest growing population.

Likewise the LA/Vegas line looks like a real money maker on paper.

> EV adoption is an important goal for species survival

Private transportation will always be unsustainable, regardless of power source. More ambitious goals are necessary.

EV transportation is a gateway to large-scale renewable energy storage, so even if you dislike private transportation this is actually pretty damn useful. On the other hand the (mostly Chinese) battery suppliers seem to have entered the fast part of the S-curve, so maybe Tesla isn't critical anymore -- except maybe to the competitiveness of the US in these areas.

> if you dislike private transportation

not a dislike, but a principled and objective position. Future investment in that modal should be zero.