In the last three decades, the cost of desalination has dropped by more than half and more plants have come on line. California, for instance has 11 plants with 10 more proposed. The water costs about twice of that from other freshwater sources. Guess that would double my water bill from $30 to $60 a month - certainly affordable (btw, Israel gets over 1/2 of its water from desalination and the average bill in 2016 was $30, about the same as the U.S.).

That is not to say that desalination doesn't have issues - It does take energy, but a lot less than it use to, and for every gallon of freshwater, a gallon of higher brine seawater must be disposed of. Still, the point is just like gains in solar panel efficiencies have boosted solar production as being more cost-effective, so has gains in desalination efficiency made this option quite viable (and needed).

Ironically, Norway is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world and oil revenues make up around 15% of their GDP (by contrast the US is the number two largest importer, and oil as a percent of US GDP has rarely been above 8% and has been falling for some time). Bottom line, over the years, much of Norway's wealth was generated by North Sea Oil. Not knocking their push to EVs, just point out that oil output per capita made them the wealthy nation they are today, and is is not an "apples to apples" comparison by any means.

Maybe their push is due to a little collective guilt for providing the world with so much of our greenhouse gases (again per capita), or maybe it is just shrewd business. I vote the later. They are pushing forward on Thorium nuclear reactors, and just happen to have an estimated 15% of the worlds supply of Thorium (the name should give that away). It is certainly a lot easier to "lead the way" where your natural resources are much more vast than the 5.5 million population they serve. EV incentives (reduced tolls, more tax on ICE vehicles, more charging stations) are in large part paid for with the generated national wealth from oil. Again, not knocking Norway (my wife is of Norwegian heritage), I applaud their efforts, I just don't see the applicability to the US's situation.

I was curious what the subsidies that are being quoted are, so I looked it up - the talking point of "trillions in subsidies" is reported, but the underlying data was a little harder to find. It appears that most of the subsidies being quote are "Implicit" with just about eight percent explicit. Implicit includes: Underpricing for local air pollution costs, global warming costs, congestion and road accidents (guess this one applies to EV too) and foregone consumption tax revenue (also applies to EVs). I didn't find a breakdown of the explicit costs (like tax credits I assume), and no comparison of what other credits other businesses (including the EV 's tax credits and no motor fuel tax) might get.

But by the definition above, I wonder if we are being subsidized every time we fart methane...

To be clear, I will probably own an EV one day, but when free market forces make them the clear winner. That day might not be that far off, if the current premature EV push didn't sour the pot for too many major automotive manufacturers. There is a lot of competing battery technology just on the horizon (lithium-sulfur for one) that will change the battery life, charging time, battery costs, and other major detractors that may eventually put EVs over the top. We will also need major investment in our electrical production, and ultimately that means nuclear, either meltdown proof fission or hopefully fusion. EV supporters need to get on the nuclear power plant bandwagon.

Hopefully you did not use a standard NEMA 14-50 from Home Depot or Lowes. They are not designed for continuous use as in a car charger overnight or frequent plug-in/removals, and have an issue with overheating and lowered amperage. Eventually, those will fail and do so spectacularly. Preferrably, get a Hubbell ($100 or more due to demand) or the cheaper (but still made by Hubbell and essentially the same) $50 Bryant.

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