4 ms·

EVs take care of all those problems all at once

morsch 7y ago
EVs will eliminate engine noise, they won't eliminate tire noise (fewer, lighter cars may) or aerodynamic noise (fewer, slower cars will). It will be a big improvement, but it will not take care of the problem; living at a major road will still be terrible. [1] EVs don't appreciably reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, you need clean electricity generation for that. I'd hesitantly agree that they're going to be a part of a long term solution. [1] https://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/05/will-electric-cars-make-traffic-quieter-yes-no/ https://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/05/will-electric-cars-make...
- EForEndeavour 7y ago
  > EVs don't appreciably reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, you need clean electricity generation for that. EVs do emit less CO2 than conventional vehicles, even in US states like West Virginia who power their grids mostly non-renewably: https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/19/electric-car-well-to-wheel-emissions-myth/ https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/19/electric-car-well-to-wh... Zero tailpipe CO2 emissions are just one advantage of EVs. They also emit zero particulates, zero ozone, and negligible engine noise. EVs get cleaner as grid power gets cleaner. By contrast, tightening emissions standards only affects brand-new conventional vehicles, and these only get dirtier as they age. This topic has been discussed on HN before; here's an insightful article and thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15106398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15106398
  - morsch 7y ago
    I'm aware. Hence my saying that they're a part of a long term solution. The linked article doesn't actually say what an EV in West Virginia pollutes (just flat out states that it's less than a conventional car), but the national average quoted is a bit less than half of a conventional car. The OP -- as people often do -- pretended it's zero. It's not. If you want zero emissions: walk. Or ride a bike, which is a rounding error off of zero. I hope you're just as quick to post your article when people make that mistake. The number gets lower as grids get cleaner, yes, if they get cleaner. But we're at best struggling to clean up our grids, and moving transportation to electricity is going to roughly double the demand; at least if we pretend we don't have to simultaneously change the way we "consume" mobility.
    - paulryanrogers 7y ago
      Easier to clean a few large energy sources. Fossil fuels also require energy to extract, refine, transport apart from the vehicle itself.
  - pixl97 7y ago
    >emit zero particulates, Particulates from tires still happen for EV's and are a large concern in PM2.5 amounts.
    - jvanderbot 7y ago
      Tires are on all vehicles. Combustion is a larger and more immediate concern because of NOX and PM2.5/PM10. Its fair to prioritize that by moving burner power out of cities and using EVs, then go after other sources of PM and NOx like power plants or tires.

EVs will eliminate engine noise, they won't eliminate tire noise (fewer, lighter cars may) or aerodynamic noise (fewer, slower cars will). It will be a big improvement, but it will not take care of the problem; living at a major road will still be terrible. [1] EVs don't appreciably reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, you need clean electricity generation for that. I'd hesitantly agree that they're going to be a part of a long term solution. [1] https://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/05/will-electric-cars-make-traffic-quieter-yes-no/ https://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/05/will-electric-cars-make...

EForEndeavour 7y ago
> EVs don't appreciably reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, you need clean electricity generation for that. EVs do emit less CO2 than conventional vehicles, even in US states like West Virginia who power their grids mostly non-renewably: https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/19/electric-car-well-to-wheel-emissions-myth/ https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/19/electric-car-well-to-wh... Zero tailpipe CO2 emissions are just one advantage of EVs. They also emit zero particulates, zero ozone, and negligible engine noise. EVs get cleaner as grid power gets cleaner. By contrast, tightening emissions standards only affects brand-new conventional vehicles, and these only get dirtier as they age. This topic has been discussed on HN before; here's an insightful article and thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15106398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15106398
- morsch 7y ago
  I'm aware. Hence my saying that they're a part of a long term solution. The linked article doesn't actually say what an EV in West Virginia pollutes (just flat out states that it's less than a conventional car), but the national average quoted is a bit less than half of a conventional car. The OP -- as people often do -- pretended it's zero. It's not. If you want zero emissions: walk. Or ride a bike, which is a rounding error off of zero. I hope you're just as quick to post your article when people make that mistake. The number gets lower as grids get cleaner, yes, if they get cleaner. But we're at best struggling to clean up our grids, and moving transportation to electricity is going to roughly double the demand; at least if we pretend we don't have to simultaneously change the way we "consume" mobility.
  - paulryanrogers 7y ago
    Easier to clean a few large energy sources. Fossil fuels also require energy to extract, refine, transport apart from the vehicle itself.
- pixl97 7y ago
  >emit zero particulates, Particulates from tires still happen for EV's and are a large concern in PM2.5 amounts.
  - jvanderbot 7y ago
    Tires are on all vehicles. Combustion is a larger and more immediate concern because of NOX and PM2.5/PM10. Its fair to prioritize that by moving burner power out of cities and using EVs, then go after other sources of PM and NOx like power plants or tires.