The comments in the article are...quite something.
Oooh ... I didn't read the COMMENTS; I thought you mean "quotes" of what the people said in the article proper. So, then I wrote this in response to you, thinking you were talking about the in-article quotes:
Yes they are, to us. But those are real jobs and real businesses (profiting off of dirty oil cars). I took a few things from the article:
1. EV promoters would do well to educate public better on EV use in non-condescending but simple ways. How far does it go, from Capitola Mall to The Great Mall, for instance, as a benchmark; would a Leaf make it, if they drive like I do? What about Gilroy Fairgrounds to Los Banos Airport? San Jose Convention Center to San Francisco Airport in rush hour? Merced City Hall to Yosemite Half Dome Tourist Center? Like, how much would the electricity cost for that, how fast could you drive, with how much air conditioning (it gets 100F+) or heater (last night it was 27F in my drive), how much of the battery charge would you need? What are the supported charging standards? What options exist? How would it work? Cost? Etc..
If we educated everyone (including ourselves) better about this stuff, then dealers won't have to spend as much time educating us. I don't think it would hurt the EV promoters to do this, even though they could make fun of the situation in a condescending way if they wanted to waste time and effort.
2. Those businesses don't want to loose their homes, families, etc., that depend on those revenue streams. They want another child but can't afford it and might loose their life (at least marriage, home, family) if they loose their work? That scares the hell out of them. My answer: the market has to adapt, but part of that adaption is how it adapts. No one can say for sure, but a lot of us can understand the dynamics enough to help it along here and there, for the benefit of various parties as it progresses.
For instance, we could stop preparing and educating as many new mechanics, and drop the # of new mechanics educated to the level we think we will need, as a temporary glut forms and then it resettles down to the new normal for EVs; we'll need no mechanics for almost a decade, then we'll have to start making them regularly again but at a reduced rate compared to now --- someone in that business ought to track that properly (probably via supply and demand dynamics unhindered -- correct for the inaccuracy created by government handouts). In addition, dealers will have to figure out how to market their mechanics for other business while they downsize and consolidate their mechanical divisions relative to the number of cars they sell and maintain, which in a growing population, actually just means they don't have to build any new facilities: it will sort of just keep even, plus or minus, and they can work the plus and minus according to the marketplace. When demand is going up but efficiency also matches the increased demand, then the supply can stay the same. Mechanics, dealers, etc., need to realize this. We can remind them. Then they won't be caught flat footed when the EV they just sold doesn't have as much maintenance required.
They probably already do realize it though, and are afraid the switchover to electric will be more abrupt than they are ready for. So, they need to furlough some maintenance workers. Keep up! Mechanics would have to go find other work. They can install solar panels, for instance. (Obviously, I'm talking about the more dynamic fringe elements; the good mechanics would stay mechanics and so forth, the great ones might move up to another industry, etc.)
There's still maintenance required. Just look at Tesla. Eventually they'll get better at it, but there's still maintenance.
Maybe finding jobs for the mechanics would be helpful. Not some government program of course! Government sucks. Something more like create businesses that eat up mechanics for their positions.
Another example is that it's a transitioning marketplace. There are old players that are in bed with the old profit systems that don't want to give up on their old profits. They are going to, are, and have been, throwing impediments up to slow everything down. EV promoters' response should be to continue to make viable compelling vehicles. I'm sorry but that's the name of the game, competition. I have no magic bullets there other than the work of real work.
