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My opposite take from Germany: electric cars still a niche, ICE as popular as ever, SUV's still the biggest growth segment, still plenty to catch up with the U

My opposite take from Germany: electric cars still a niche, ICE as popular as ever, SUV's still the biggest growth segment, still plenty to catch up with the US, 2035 ban was never going to happen, just conveniently far off to allow for feel-good promises. In Berlin people love to cruise around with electric scooters, dreaming of a co2-free future and maybe present. Early at dawn the scooters are collected by some polish guys in a dirty diesel van and taken outside town where they are fixed and charged with electricity from burning coal. The FDP doesn't hold anyone hostage, and society is in consensus (in terms of its revealed preferences) about continuing to burn coal, gas, and oil far into the foreseeable future, while expressing the opposite preference, and while making ICE engines and cars for the rest of the world as well. EDIT: as someone who doesn't drive, hates cars, and has a carbon footprint one tenth of the average green party voter.

TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
I agree rich people needs to wakeup and figure out that they are utmost minority of the society and the poorer majority of society does not have money for expensive battery toys.
- danaris 4y ago
  The answer to this is not “so we should keep wrecking the climate”. It’s “so we should make those battery options cheaper and more robust, at the expense of the rich people.”
imtringued 4y ago
The bike sharing program in my city has employees on electric bikes with enough space to carry six non electric bikes. I don't know where you are implying they get their coal energy from. You can't get a contract like that. The electricity mix is roughly 50% renewables, 32% coal 9% gas, 7% nuclear power.
muspimerol 4y ago
> Early at dawn the scooters are collected by some polish guys in a dirty diesel van and taken outside town where they are fixed and charged with electricity from burning coal. Aw shucks, guess we should throw away the whole program and give up on electric vehicles then. Seriously, the first part of this problem would literally be fixed by the policy we are discussing in this thread (banning internal combustion engine cars). The second problem - green energy mix - is valid and also needs to be fixed. But using it as an excuse NOT to use electric vehicles is just a silly chicken-and-egg framing of the issue. We need both green energy and electric vehicles. We won't have sustainable transport until both happen, and it doesn't really matter which happens first.

TheLoafOfBread 4y ago

I agree rich people needs to wakeup and figure out that they are utmost minority of the society and the poorer majority of society does not have money for expensive battery toys.

danaris 4y ago
The answer to this is not “so we should keep wrecking the climate”. It’s “so we should make those battery options cheaper and more robust, at the expense of the rich people.”

imtringued 4y ago

The bike sharing program in my city has employees on electric bikes with enough space to carry six non electric bikes. I don't know where you are implying they get their coal energy from. You can't get a contract like that. The electricity mix is roughly 50% renewables, 32% coal 9% gas, 7% nuclear power.

muspimerol 4y ago

> Early at dawn the scooters are collected by some polish guys in a dirty diesel van and taken outside town where they are fixed and charged with electricity from burning coal. Aw shucks, guess we should throw away the whole program and give up on electric vehicles then. Seriously, the first part of this problem would literally be fixed by the policy we are discussing in this thread (banning internal combustion engine cars). The second problem - green energy mix - is valid and also needs to be fixed. But using it as an excuse NOT to use electric vehicles is just a silly chicken-and-egg framing of the issue. We need both green energy and electric vehicles. We won't have sustainable transport until both happen, and it doesn't really matter which happens first.