Battery Electric vehicles are a great way to hurt the environment today. MAYBE they'll be net-negative in the long run, but that is 15 years out. Many EVs in the rust belt will never last long enough to reach that.
And then there is the whole "green electricity" lie - about solar, wind, and hydro power being zero carbon. Big picture, they are less carbon intensive than other forms of power, but far from "zero". Especially solar power has a huge up-front energy cost, which at this point is provided mainly by chinese coal plants.
Emissions and global warming are a fantastically complex topic - but I am afraid battery EV's are nothing more than a shiny band-aid on the actual problem. The have the potential to reduce carbon emissions, but only in the best-case scenario. A Tesla operated in Germany emitts more NOx than a Diesel car would be allowed to, and about 80-100g of CO2 per km (which is comparable to an economy car...). And then there is the whole peak-power issue and overrating the grid to compensate for that - leading to gargantuan efforts in infrastructure, causing more CO2...
NB: I work in the development of fuel cells for EVs. The situation is marginally better there, but the only solution is a _drastic_ reduction in individual traffic, combined with high taxation of international transport, reduction of planned obsolescence, etc. As long as we ship most of our goods halfway around the globe, just to throw them away after far too short of a period, we are never going to even make a dent in the climate with EVs of any kind.
Aug. 19, 2021, 12:12 a.m. - kain0m
Battery Electric vehicles are a great way to hurt the environment today. MAYBE they'll be net-negative in the long run, but that is 15 years out. Many EVs in the rust belt will never last long enough to reach that. And then there is the whole "green electricity" lie - about solar, wind, and hydro power being zero carbon. Big picture, they are less carbon intensive than other forms of power, but far from "zero". Especially solar power has a huge up-front energy cost, which at this point is provided mainly by chinese coal plants. Emissions and global warming are a fantastically complex topic - but I am afraid battery EV's are nothing more than a shiny band-aid on the actual problem. The have the potential to reduce carbon emissions, but only in the best-case scenario. A Tesla operated in Germany emitts more NOx than a Diesel car would be allowed to, and about 80-100g of CO2 per km (which is comparable to an economy car...). And then there is the whole peak-power issue and overrating the grid to compensate for that - leading to gargantuan efforts in infrastructure, causing more CO2... NB: I work in the development of fuel cells for EVs. The situation is marginally better there, but the only solution is a _drastic_ reduction in individual traffic, combined with high taxation of international transport, reduction of planned obsolescence, etc. As long as we ship most of our goods halfway around the globe, just to throw them away after far too short of a period, we are never going to even make a dent in the climate with EVs of any kind.