this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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One of the most frustrating parts of this all being, of course, that buying a new electric car is still much worse for the environment than buying a used fuel vehicle.
It's not that clear-cut. It is instantly worse for the environment but over the lifetime of the vehicle likely won't be, especially considering the low price of wind and solar are making energy refills more environmentally friendly every day.
Absolutely. Most (~70%)of the emissions over a combustion car's lifetime are from operating it, with the remaining anount being from production and disposal.
As a counterpoint I'll add that the greenness of an EV is totally dependent on the greenness of the energy grid that charges it. If you live somewhere were power generation is decarbonized, emissions from an EV will be an order of magnitude lower than a combustion car per mile. If you live somewhere with dirty power, for example much of the American midwest which is mostly coal powered, an EV can actually produce as much emissions as a gas vehicle, just because of the dirty energy source.
Overall though, grids are decarbonizing around the world (with few exceptions). So more EVs are better than fewer. Of course the best solution to a litany of problems (emissions, congestion, inequality, poor land use) is fewer cars overall.