this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 156 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (42 children)

Electric cars don't solve every problem with private vehicle ownership but they're certainly a step in the right direction. Most EVs average an equivalent of more than 100mpg versus most ICEs, which are around 30-40. You can also power an EV with renewable resources. This isn't possible with ICEs (yes, I know you can power certain diesels with biofuel, but it's horribly inefficient).

"Buying a new car is worse than keeping an old one" is an incredibly situational phrase that has a million exceptions for so many people.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago

Buying a new car is worse than keeping an old one

Also, what do you think happens to your car when you replace it with an electric car? Do most people just drive their old cars into the ocean when they upgrade?

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[–] [email protected] 136 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Remember kids, if you're not solving climate change entirely in one single step, there's no point in trying.

Seriously, what a brain dead argument lol

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Plus, ev's keep the pollution out of the cities and places we tend to live in.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think it's under the premise of, of you have a functional car. It you got rid of that and bought an electric, you aren't helping anything.

https://youtu.be/MQLbakWESkw?si=IGV7CRjQslRSI-er

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[–] [email protected] 114 points 1 year ago (5 children)

We will never consumer our way of of a problem capitalism created. And public transit is nearly always a better solution to spending on car infrastructure.

... but... If you're gonna buy a new car anyway, they have the potential to cause less climate impact (although they're still environmentally devastating in other ways). As power generation becomes cleaner, so too do the cars. ICE cars are already about as environmentally friendly as they're gonna get, but EVs still have a lot of potential improvement (both in emissions and in things like material mining).

Although the tire microplastics is gonna get worse.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (14 children)

They already do cause less of an impact than ICE powered cars. Anyone can Google the information that shows that even though battery production is unclean, fossil fuel production over the life of a car is worse.

If the EV last for more than about 5 years, it was worth it.

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[–] [email protected] 103 points 1 year ago (17 children)

This post is fucking idiotic. Without electric cars climate change CANNOT be addressed.

Nothing is ever as simple as a single solution. Mouth breathing OPs need to get that through their thick stupid skulls

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Without electric VEHICLES* climate change cannot be addressed. Expensive new electric cars are not the solution. Electric public transport, retrofitting old vehicles, making current vehicles last, and people adopting two wheeled electric solutions will be the solution. Cars like Teslas are awful and buying one shouldn't be considered making a difference.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (10 children)

The things you mentioned should absolutely happen in the areas that have the population density to make these solutions practical. Let's also remember that this is not 100% of the planet.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Afraid you're wasting your breath. OP appears to be a member of fuckcars, which feels like it's coming from a good place but is mostly just short-sighted and infantile. I live in DFW and not having a vehicle is not an option, but these folk would classify me alongside the devil because I dare to use a combustion engine. If I could realistically use an electric vehicle I would.

I'm sure that in OPs mind everyone should just abandon their cars tomorrow and that will immediately solve all of the climate change as if private vehicle owners are the ones actually causing the problem in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Fuckcars is made up of people with little life experience who think they have all the answers, and people who fetishize city living and think it's normal or healthy for humans to live at a density like NYC (and fuck you if you disagree). They're oversimplifying to the point of meaninglessness, and handwaving away the problems.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've lived in places far less dense than NYC with robust public transit far better than NYC. Owning a car would've just been a burden 99% of the time. And it was certainly healthier than living in car-centric suburbs, both physically and mentally. Not everywhere is America where we can't fathom anything but cars and McMansions

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (6 children)

This post is fucking idiotic. Without electric cars climate change CANNOT be addressed

I mean, that's not true at all..... America would just have to build actual public transportation. We just attach a feeling of personal freedom to cars that's so prevalent that Americans cannot fathom the idea of expanding public transportation.

And yes, of course public transportation isn't going to reach everyone in rural America. However, if a significant portion of the urban/suburban population switched to electric rail, it would curb climate change faster than everyone slowly replacing their personal vehicles.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This is a terrible arguement. It has the premise that all ice are going to be scrapped at once and we will just make a bazillion electric cars. It's a phase out thing.

Also quieter cars and no tailpipe emissions are fantastic.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Huh? This is just flat out wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (7 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

The bicycle is one of humans greatest achievements.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago

Double overly reductionist takes with no positive contribution. Congrats! This is crap.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (25 children)

Guess I'll keep pouring lead additive into my '65 Galaxie, then. Woo! 10 miles per gallon!

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (6 children)

In countries that generate almost all of their electricity from renewables, they are better tbh. Although more environmentally damaging to produce.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well it's a two start program.

  • All of the citizens buy an electric vehicle
  • The government produces clean energy

So it shifts the responsibility onto the government.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

It isn't.

But staying on fossil fuels is even worse. And by a lot.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My electric car was manufactured ONCE. It's powered by 99% green power (hydroelectric). It burns no gas/diesel, requires no oil changes. I intend on keeping it for 15+ years (my last vehicle got to 16 years before the electrical system fried).

It is better by literally every measure short of walking everywhere.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Remember, 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I feel like this point is missing the big picture: people create the demand, and companies supply what the market demands. Like or hate "the free market", this is essentially what it is. If there were magically 1/10th the number of humans on the planet, we would expect those companies to have 90% less emissions. It's not that some of these companies aren't bad actors, and have actions that are at times immoral, it's that they are amoral actors in a market economy that is only responsive to consumer demand.

The example I like to give is that companies' race to the bottom on quality. They're responding to human behavior, where if an item on Amazon is $6, and another very similar item is 10 cents cheaper, the cheaper item will sell 100x more. This is a brutal, cutthroat example of human behavior and market forces. It leads to shitty products because consumers are more responsive to price and find it hard to distinguish quality, so the market supplies superficially-passable junk at the lowest possible price and (with robust competition) the lowest possible profit margin.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, the carbon footprint calculator I used may not be accurate, but for the same mileage on my car vs an electric car is about 1/2 the carbon... and I assume the electric car's footprint decreases even more over time...

Certainly, electric cars aren't solving all the problems, but reducing my carbon footprint by 1/2 over a 10 year period sounds like a pretty good start.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No one ever addresses the national security aspect either. OPEC can’t fuck with the economy as easily with electronic cars and trucks.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

Recently my parents got a car for emergency situations (like dropping my sister to school when busses are cancelled and she can't bike because of rain). And when I did the research for a car with them, I realised just how good cars with sub 1L engines are (3-4l per 100km in the city). Sure, they are not gonna be fast, but they are still faster than the speed limit of 120km/h on our highways here. I am personally hoping to buy a rx8 or a na miata soon for enthusiast reasons. Modern transport should be 100% public.

Edit: grammar and spelling

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If they're made instead of making fossil fuel vehicles, they do (addressing the cartoon, not the barely related added title) . Cars will still be made as many become no longer repairable. Which kind to build? Yes, better to make more electric buses and trains, but cars wont simply vanish in any scenario.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Economical retrofit kits for legacy vehicles would help reduce manufacturing pollution & reduce vehicle emissions, if carbine free electricity production is increased.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Yeah but they're way more fun to drive

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

What about just not using cars?

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