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Improving efficiency of the least efficient cars is actually better at making a meaningful difference. Replacing a 20mpg average car with an EV that gets 80mpge
by Kirby64 3y ago
Improving efficiency of the least efficient cars is actually better at making a meaningful difference. Replacing a 20mpg average car with an EV that gets 80mpge makes a proportionally bigger difference than replacing a 35mpg car with one that gets 115mpge.
The least efficient vehicles have the biggest impact on the environment.
- iancmceachern 3y agoBut I'm aggregate that gets lost in the noise due to the relative volumes. Small 2 cycle engines like mopeds are the biggest contributor. Then small cars, these luxury cars are a small percent of global emissions. Also, those people don't have to drive big luxury cars, they can buy these smaller cars.
- Kirby64 3y agoThere's room in the market for both of these types of vehicles. Asking people who typically buy big luxury cars to 'just buy a smaller car' would be nice in theory, but isn't going to happen in practice. There are many reasons, valid or potentially invalid, to own a larger car or a truck, and often you're not going to change people's minds on that.
- iancmceachern 3y agoI agree. I'm saying that the folks buying the former should not be doing so under the pretense that it's better for the environment, or society.
- Kirby64 3y agoBut, no, that's not right. If someone is typically a buyer of a ... Range Rover, or a BMW X5, or something like that, then replacing that car with an EV of equivalent size makes a proportionally larger impact on the environment than someone who replaces their Corolla with a small EV.
- iancmceachern 3y agoYour missing the point. An EV is not necessary better than a gas car. An EV like the Plaid X or the Hummer EV actually use the equivalent of more fuel than the competition. A gas X5 is more energy efficient than a X.