EVs are cleaner than gas cars, but a growing share of Americans don't believe it
EVs are cleaner than gas cars, but a growing share of Americans don't believe it
Electric vehicles are caught up in the culture wars. Data from Ipsos shows the percentage of Americans who believe EVs are better for the environment than gas cars has dropped 5 points since 2022.
Everyone knows that electric vehicles are supposed to be better for the planet than gas cars. That's the driving reason behind a global effort to transition toward batteries.
But what about the harms caused by mining for battery minerals? And coal-fired power plants for the electricity to charge the cars? And battery waste? Is it really true that EVs are better?
The answer is yes. But Americans are growing less convinced.
The net benefits of EVs have been frequently fact-checked, including by NPR. "No technology is perfect, but the electric vehicles are going to offer a significant benefit as compared to the internal combustion engine vehicles," Jessika Trancik, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told NPR this spring.
It's important to ask these questions about EVs' hidden costs, Trancik says. But they have been answered "exhaustively" --- her word --- and a widerange of organizations have confirmed that EVs still beat gas.
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Please let me know how that goes for you and when I can purchase one that allows me to travel 500 kilometres in -25°C without disabling the vehicle mid trip in that mentioned temperature.
You mean for your highly specialized need that the majority of potential EV drivers currently turned off by the step costs don't need? Sure, let me just make a note, since the solution is scalable, even working in the energy demand of a heater.
Ah yes, I am the only person on the planet who has a need to travel occasionally to a larger city during a normal winter. Got it!
Nice straw man, and a powerfully ignorant one too, given how many EVs it would ignore the existence of simply because they would not fulfill your criteria.
Oh, and I was kidding, no way in hell would I ever give such an antagonist such a leg up, pearls before swine and all, you've made your choice and the industry is quite happy to cater to it.
"powerfully ignorant" oh the irony.
EV's are great to bomb around Cali and similar cities. Practicality drops off substantially in rural settings, and to zero when the temperatures drop well below freezing.
Your fun little idea might gain some traction if you stop being a prick when presented with challenges.
The irony being that I actually face my challenges and you see insurmountable obstacles where there are none in defense of the worst aspects of the industry. But at least you are making your position much more evident, you just want to discourage EVs as a niche product that only works in urban environments that doesn't work in rural or when the temperatures drop below freezing, and seem to be quite hostile to premises that could easily change and disprove that notion. Why, ego or something else, I wonder.
Don't worry, my idea clearly isn't meant for people like you, so don't worry your pretty little head off.
The irony being that there are obvious challenges to EV becoming mainstream for the average person, and you choose to say there are no challenges. You are willingly ignorant to them.
You are the one discarding solutions to challenges, I'm just saying those challenges are not insurmountable obstacles. Reading is hard.