They also reduce noise pollution
And reduce the propping of petrostates
And can be fueled, in theory, almost anywhere there are buildings (including your own home/work)
And that fuel can also, in theory, come from fully sustainable sources
They also help normalise the usage of renewable energy (this is a factor that shouldn't be overlooked, imo)
You don't even need buildings really, depending on your definition of a building. I've seen some really cool remote solar canopy setups, and they're not connected to any sort of infrastructure. Just a big umbrella with ~20 solar panels+micro inverters, and a couple of EVSEs on them. It's not DCFC, but it'd still get you 10-20MPH of charge when camping or something.
When you buy an EV, it does not replace the gas combustion engine. The old car is shipped to Africa where it lives on for several decades more. The avg age of a car bought in Africa is 21 years old. So the EV just adds an additional harmful planet parasite.
They also reduce noise pollution
The noise pollution is exported to Africa.
And reduce the propping of petrostates
Petrostates get propped up by consumers wherever your car ends up.
They also help normalise the usage of renewable energy (this is a factor that shouldn’t be overlooked, imo)
I don’t see how EVs are needed for that. If everyone hypothetically switched to bicycles, renewable energy would still be the goal.
Not sure I get the humour? Is it "don't fix anything unless you can fix everything?"
It's meant to underline that cars in general aren't that healthy for the the environments we live in and our people, even if we switch completely to electric. I think it's to combat the notion that if everyone just buys an electric car, we'll all be fine.
Bingo. In short, #fuckCars.
It's that electric cars are a figleaf. They don't really fix anything if we keep seeing them as our (almost) exclusive mode of transport.
They aren't a fig leaf, they're a bandaid. They fix the emissions problem which is currently the most pressing issue. They aren't a perfect solution but they are one that is applicable now and fighting against them is just playing directly into the fossil fuel industries hand. Fighting for better public transport is great but until that happens electric vehicles are harm reduction.
The problem is America is built assuming the use of cars. Most Americans cannot simply trade their car for a bicycle, because they live too far away from goods and services. And even if they could ride the bike the 5 or 10 or 20 miles to the nearest grocery store, good luck getting little Timmy and Suzie to their soccer practice or scout meeting.
So at least an electric car stops the tailpipe emissions while we think about changing where people live and where their services are located.
Everyone loves this "we can't just tear up infrastructure for public transit" argument but ignore that it's EXACTLY what we did for cars.
Don't forget roads being a normal expense of governments but the expectation that mass transit pays for itself!
I'm referring to the millions of people who live where there is no possibility of public transit because the population density is way too low. I'm all in favor of making cities car-free zones, but outside of major population centers, the quickest way to help the environment is to switch to electric vehicles.
Indeed. And Utrecht sets a good example:
You choose where you live and where you work. If you select a home-workplace pair that is not cyclable, you fucked up. The fix is not buy another car. The fix is to move.
So it’s better right? Just not perfect but there are no perfect solutions.
There are no perfect solutions, but there are often better solutions. Electric is better than internal combustion private vehicles, sure! But avoiding investment in public transport in favour of electric vehicles is also just not helping to the extent that we need.
EVs → nearly as shitty as cars with an exhaust (+ introduces lithium problems & power plant emissions). Not even close to perfect. Merely calling them “imperfect” misses the point. They’re not even good.
Public transport → significantly better than EVs, but still quite shitty on the environment.
Bicycles (e-bikes) → significantly better than public transport (but demand lithium).
Bicycles (push bikes) → nearly perfect.
Walking → perfect (if you don’t fart). But ⅓ the efficiency of cycling.
That's the point, it's not perfect at all, but it's better, so let's take that solution for now and work on the next problem
Public transports can do a lot, but it can't do everything, same for bikes and walking. If we start rejecting every progress because it's not good enough then we won't ever progress.
This is some im14andthisisdeep shit. None of these other problems will even matter if we don't work towards solving emissions. This is a disingenuous take from an edge lord loser.
Maybe there should be a community for lame biased political comics.
You know the solution to the other problems, such as massively investing in public transit, also significantly help reducing emissions, right?
Oh, I must have missed the part in this anti electric vehicle comic that argues for significant increase in public infrastructure? Or is the author going to release another comic about how trains have brakes and hit animals/people too?
It's almost as if this comic is intentionally vague so that whoever the reader is can use it to confirm their bias.
Yeah, it's framed horribly. But if the comic specified that it was something like a hummer (the EV form weighing x1.9 what a gas hummer does... it's 9063lbs without any cargo) it would make more sense. All the issues scale with size and weight, and there is also personal cost.
If electric Kei cars were normal it would be a much better situation, though people are going to rightfully feel less safe with the idea of being in a small vehicle while on the same road with the increasing popularity of large trucks/SUVs (that is if Kei-class vehicles aren't banned/restricted for that very reason).
I feel like a lot of these are still relevant even if primary travel is switched to trains or whatever.
Except for that the environmental cost per head goes way down compared to cars.
Fair point. Every time I sit through rush hour traffic, I think "thousands of people are all headed in the same direction every day, and we can't build a more optimal system?"
Yes, except many orders of magnitude smaller. Unlike EVs.
This reached out so far it came back to being funny
Just love how the dead bodies under car are considered mere “imperfections” by car-advocates in this thread.
