A pair of psychologists and an economist at the University of Turku, in Finland, have found that because the average electric vehicle (EV) owner is wealthier than the average person, they still have a bigger than average carbon footprint.
Maybe EVs are not a comprehensive climate solution??
I view EV’s as a solution that consolidates and shifts the creation of pollution elsewhere.
One of the arguments I hear a lot is that electricity is still generated at coal plants/dirty sources. My view is by using EV’s eventually the dirty energy generator can be replaced with nuclear or other clean sources negating the entire argument.
You also have to account for transmission losses and losses in the battery and at every conversion along the way. But also things like regenerative breaking help make electric more efficient as well. It would not surprise me though even with all that if electric was still more efficient than ICE even if the generation was completely fossil fuel based. Just pointing out that it is not just about the efficiency of the generation of power.
As an argument for efficiency: If you drive a truck that drags an EV behind it (thus charging the EV), and then you drive the EV, you will get more total range than if you just drove the truck by itself.
That’s just how much more efficient EV designs are than traditional ICE vehicles.
I view EV’s as a solution that consolidates and shifts the creation of pollution elsewhere.
One of the arguments I hear a lot is that electricity is still generated at coal plants/dirty sources. My view is by using EV’s eventually the dirty energy generator can be replaced with nuclear or other clean sources negating the entire argument.
Ok even if it does shift it, shouldn’t big power plants be way more efficient and clean than hundreds of thousands of little engines?
You also have to account for transmission losses and losses in the battery and at every conversion along the way. But also things like regenerative breaking help make electric more efficient as well. It would not surprise me though even with all that if electric was still more efficient than ICE even if the generation was completely fossil fuel based. Just pointing out that it is not just about the efficiency of the generation of power.
As an argument for efficiency: If you drive a truck that drags an EV behind it (thus charging the EV), and then you drive the EV, you will get more total range than if you just drove the truck by itself.
That’s just how much more efficient EV designs are than traditional ICE vehicles.