Renegade Roundtable: the Future of Electric Cars

Eduardo Martinez, Opinion Editor

The Renegade Roundtable was held April 19 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Levan Center to discuss the future of electric cars. The Renegade Roundtable featured Reggie William, Savanna Andrasian, Dave Moton, and Joe Saldivar as speakers except for Javier Llamas, who could not make it to attendance. There were 11 guests within attendance.

Andrasian starts her statement by acknowledging the history of electric cars with steam, gas, and electric vehicles. Andrasian further states that the reason why gas was dominant was because oil companies stomped out electric vehicles, but now, due to social concerns over the environment and government participation, eventually electric cars are inevitable.

Moton said gas and automotive car companies targeted trollies to make cars more preferable for travel within cities. Moton further said that now that Elon and his marketing have made it popular and brought electric cars to the mainstream.

Andrasian said that Elon is developing the infrastructure necessary for electric cars with charging stations, but there is a long way ahead, and she suggested a move from traditional gas stations to pit stops for charging stations.

A guest states the need for charging stations, and another states that charging a car requires a patience mindset. Moton said that it will be a necessary effort for the nation to switch to electric stations and that gas stations are not equipped for electric charging.

Although one of the guests states that there will be a decrease in demand due to home charging however, Saldivar said his biggest concern is whether the nation has enough electricity to meet the demand for electric cars.

William states his concerns about the social level and cost of electric cars: How much will it cost to have an electric car for all? Andrasian said their attempts to make them cheaper by stripping features and the eventual cost flip on gas made car prices become more expensive for parts and led to a lack of gas stations as gas-powered vehicles get less support from car manufacturers. Saldivar states we may need to consider nuclear to fill in the demand for charging and power as all other forms are const-inefficient and cause loss of energy during conversion from one form of energy to another.

Moton states the danger of mining as the impact of producing electric cars is greater than that of gas cars, and taking advantage of impoverished countries; however, he further states the possibility that, over time, it might have less of an impact on the environment with better batteries.

Andrasian states the fear that companies want consumers to rely on them with plan obsolesce.

Moton said that there is a possibility of a newcomer taking over charging stations, that are not Tesla, to fulfill nation-wide demands.

Saldivar states the possibility of A.I. intergrade with electric cars to do other things while parked, like drive others and charge itself. One guest expressed his fear of not being able to drive, and Saldivar said that driving will turn into a hobby.

Andrasian states the possibility of AI to avoid accidents with scheduled traffic and routes. Moton states that there are already networks that exist with phones and Google Maps that communicate traffic and where things are.

On the possibility of cars getting hacked Moton said the possibility of it being hacked to target high-level officials. A guest states the possibility of self-driving car bombs themselves, and Moton said the dangers of cars being hacked are already occurring without electric cars surrounding built-in sensors.

In the final parts of the meeting, discussion on the future jobs with electric and AI cars was brought up. Moton said that there will still be a need for oil cars, but there is still concern over occupations. Andrasian states at the beginning that there might be more jobs at the start for creating these electric and AI cars, but eventually they will even out.