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Do EV's actually do anything beneficial for the planet? (lemmy.today)
submitted 2 years ago* by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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I've seen a lot of posts here on Lemmy, specifically in the "fuck cars" communities as to how Electric Vehicles do pretty much nothing for the Climate, but I continue to see Climate activists everywhere try pushing so, so hard for Electric Vehicles.

Are they actually beneficial to the planet other than limiting exhaust, or is that it? or maybe exhaust is a way bigger problem?

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[–] 57 points 2 years ago (13 children)

First priority is to get rid of cars in general. Try to use bicycles and public transportation. If you don't need a car to get to work, consider a car share service to replace your private car/private parking space.

EVs probably have around 1/10th the lifetime emissions of a gas car, which is still really significant.

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  • [–] 33 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Easier said than done in a lot of American cities and burbs. I’ve tried to go without a car, and it just hasn’t been practical.

    I’m on the edge of a denser American metro that actually has a subway, and when I ditched the car for some of my jobs, I added several hours of commute to my day, and it honestly started to wear on me physically.

    When I have the money I’ll probably jump over to an EV. It seems like the most reasonable solution for where I live and work.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago*

    Yeah, unfortunately transit options depends a ton on where you live. not just which city, but also individual neighborhoods in that city and where your workplace is. Even when you live near rail-based transit, often cities might not bother running proper routes and schedules to make it viable. But we should support public transportation and bike infrastructure efforts when we can.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    I’d go broke without a car. I live close to work but shop in the suburbs. The price of groceries at the “bodegas” are shockingly offensive.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    consider the cost of the car in those estimates. Cars cost over $10k a year to own and maintain in the US. Local corner stores encourage local business and walkable neighborhoods, whereas supermarket chains depend on government subsidies to exist.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    My car does not cost $10k/y. $833/m? I would probably have to spend that much on inflated city prices. Not to mention the crazy inconvenience that public transportation would create when venturing outside the city—like the beach, where I enjoy going frequently.

    I’d need to be able to get places in a reasonable amount of time, not waste my day on a slow bus system that takes an hour or more.

    I’m not trying to support oil, but we need better options than “take the bus” which aren’t going to happen, sadly.

    Edit:

    I did the math on the time loss. It would take 4 hours round trip to visit my best friend. We hang out twice per week. Driving takes about 50 minutes round trip.

    Also, I stay there until 11 or midnight. The busses don’t run.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    The goal is to take the car as little as possible. It sounds like visiting the beach and visiting your friend isn't possible without a car, and that's not something that you need to worry about. If there are car sharing services available in your city, like zipcar. You can still do that without committing to the $10k/year cost of owning a private car.

    Let's say you use a car 3 times a week, twice to visit friends, and once to go to the beach. Zipcar offers a $11/hour rate, and we'll assume you spend 4 hours on each trip. That comes out to $132/week, or $6870/year, saving you over $3k/year over owning a car. You'd no longer have to worry about maintenance or car insurance. This would also be much better for the environment, since you can use a shared car instead of dedicating a car to yourself. Any week where you don't go to the beach, or your friend visits you, would be pure savings for you, too.

    This video is a really good video about why car-sharing is so useful:

    https://youtu.be/OObwqreAJ48

    Source for $10k/year number:

    https://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-YDC-Fact-Sheet-FINAL-8-9-21.pdf

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    I understand. I think your math is wrong though. Also, it’s not $11 anymore. Also, the closest zip car to me is a 31 minute walk…. Which I could use, but… that’s an hour both ways and an hour is walking on the street in the snow or rain.

    The earth is already toast. Even if we all stopped driving, humanity pollutes like crazy. Nothing we do matters anymore because we are already past the tipping point. Science can back that up. We are far warmer than we predicted. We will probably hit +6 by 2030 at this rate.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    EVs probably have around 1/10th the lifetime emissions of a gas car

    Do you have a source for that because that's radically better than any number I've heard. Most analyses I've seen have been more like 40-60%.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    No source, but I remember hearing that EVs earn back the cost of their manufacturing through their zero emissions within about a year. I extrapolated based on that with the assumption that a car will last about 10 years. I live in Sweden where our electricity is carbon free/ carbon neutral.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    What you heard was probably about tail-pipe emissions which are very low compared to ICEs indeed but they only represent a small part of an EV's lifetime emissions.

    In the EU, EVs reduce lifetime emissions by about 30%. Certainly not nothing but not anywhere close to solving our transport emissions problem.

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