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> If every car on the road were battery-powered and those batteries were charged entirely by renewable energy, transportation emissions would be close to zero.
by aqme28 2y ago
> If every car on the road were battery-powered and those batteries were charged entirely by renewable energy, transportation emissions would be close to zero.
This is entirely false. I'm surprised to see it in the NYTimes. They're only 0 when you factor out the cost of building the car and maintaining the highway, and those are still pretty high
- standardUser 2y ago> They're only 0 when you factor out the cost of building the car and maintaining the highway, and those are still pretty high Breaking: construction and manufacturing require energy and materials, film at 11!
- nyokodo 2y ago> They're only 0 when you factor out the cost of building the car and maintaining the highway And manufacturing the renewable electricity generation infrastructure isn’t zero emissions either.
- gh02t 2y agoIt's not false, it's misleading. Emissions are from exhaust only according to the EPA https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/smog-vehicle-emissions https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/smog-vehicle-emissions . Greenhouse gas and pollutants from building the vehicles and roads get lumped into another category. There is a valid reason for this, in that that's the main thing the EPA regulates with respect to vehicles, but it also lets people make misleading statements like this one.
- wonder_er 2y agoalso people who care about EVs tend to forget about tire wear and brake dust. Both are emitted in huge quantities, esp. tire microplastics, by EVs.
- rangestransform 2y agoYeah but I can just buy a Tesla with hepa filters so I’m not breathing it in
- n8henrie 2y agoI thought brake dust would be drastically decreased due to regenerative braking?
- zdragnar 2y agoThere's some offset due to the increased weight from the battery pack. Highway driving is better, city driving is worse. Also, the tires emit more, since wear is also a function of weight.
- n8henrie 2y agoLooks like it's still expected to a be a big net win for brake wear: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749123014021 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974912...
- wonder_er 2y agothat sounds right. Tire rubber microplastic generation would go way up, though, because of the vehicle weight. I propose small motor scooters (as is common in asia) as the solution. Cars also take up a godawful amount of space, all the time. Especially in a city. That's the real harm, the tailpipe emissions are trivial compared to the space consumption.
- SoftTalker 2y agoSmall motor scooters are not a good solution in the rain and snow
- wonder_er 2y agothey're adequate (but less fun) in the rain. I have a good thick waterproof poncho in the scooter. Snow, obviously, is not great. Cold is fine, though. I live in Denver, ride the scooter year-round, though obviously don't go out in certain conditions.
- n8henrie 2y ago
- thrillgore 2y agoThere are still emissions from cars: rubber from the tires, steel, aluminum, and other metals from part wear...
- __MatrixMan__ 2y agoAlso, roads and tires are made out of the goopy parts of oil, so their manufacture impacts the price of the fuel parts of oil. Your EV's roads and tires make it cheaper for others to not buy an EV. We should be making both out of steel instead.
- theodorejb 2y agoNot to mention greater wear on the road and increased particle emissions from brakes and tires due to heavy batteries in EVs. https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/business/evs-release-more-toxic-emissions-are-worse-for-the-environment-study/ https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/business/evs-release-more-toxi...
- MobiusHorizons 2y agoEVs don’t actually use their brakes that much due to regenerative braking being the dominant mode. They are certainly heavier, though, which affects road and tire wear.
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- the-alchemist 2y agoVery misleading statement. First, NY Post is kind of a tabloid. You gotta dig deeper. Here's the actual study: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/1907101151_20190709_Non_Exhaust_Emissions_typeset_Final.pdf https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/1... I recommend reading it. It's actually pretty well done. Secondly, the report itself and common sense dictate that regenerative braking on EVs (or hybrids) greatly decrease brake usage, therefore brake dust. Some EVs have "one-pedal" modes where you don't use the brakes at all in normal usage. Thirdly, tires is a different calculation. This looks like a fairly unbiased source (https://www.emissionsanalytics.com/news/2020/1/28/tyres-not-tailpipe https://www.emissionsanalytics.com/news/2020/1/28/tyres-not-..., https://www.nokiantyres.com/company/news-article/there-is-a-common-misconception-related-to-electric-cars-in-reality-tires-will-last-for-a-long-time/ https://www.nokiantyres.com/company/news-article/there-is-a-...). Looks like tire issue is a toss up, and it depends on what the type of tire and how you drive. The much higher torque on an EV and a heavy foot will wear down the tires a lot more, but that has more to do with driver behavior than EVs. Also, this whole issue is kind of a red herring because tractor trailers and heavy pickups and SUVs are a much, much larger source of brake and tire dust, and overall particulate pollution.
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- bryanlarsen 2y agoThe goal is zero carbon by 2050. So they might not be now but they should be in the future. Zero-carbon transportation is a large part of decarbonizing infrastructure.