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This study is about air quality in neighborhoods. So it would show the same thing even if EVs just moved pollution from where people use their cars to where pow
by tbrownaw 9mo ago
This study is about air quality in neighborhoods. So it would show the same thing even if EVs just moved pollution from where people use their cars to where power plants get placed, because that's not the question it's addressing.
- MBCook 9mo agoPeople live in neighborhoods. Even if the pollution is identical, moving it from where everyone lives and works over to more isolated areas where power plants are would still be a big benefit. We know EVs are cleaner than that. And when the pollution is centralized in one power plant it’s also more economically feasible to apply filtration or particle capture isn’t it?
- wilg 9mo agoOK but we already know that EVs don't just move pollution around.
- tbrownaw 9mo agoAIUI there are still disagreements about how to calculate that exactly. This study doesn't (and doesn't try to) provide any input towards settling that.
- mkozlows 9mo agoThere are no reputable studies that show EVs having anything like the harms of legacy cars. The worst you can get is that if you're on a carbon-intensive grid, a Hummer EV might be as bad as a compact gas car.
- eldaisfish 9mo agothere are no disagreements about the fact that any electric is FAR more efficient than any combustion car.
- kneel 9mo agoEven if all the electricity for EVs came from a centralized coal plant (it doesn't) it would be better than using combustion in individual vehicles. Centralized pollution in one area is better than attempting to mitigate diffuse pollution everywhere.
- Gigachad 9mo agoCoal power plants are also massively more efficient than ICE cars. They can run consistently at their optimum rpm rather than start stop usage.
- al_borland 9mo agoOne other decent argument I heard in favor of EVs is that they’re agnostic to where that power is generated. So once that coal plant is replaced with natural gas, solar, wind, or whatever, all the EVs in that area will instantly become cleaner without everyone having to buy a new car after the changes is made.
- theshrike79 9mo agoThis is the key. It basically makes existing EVs retroactively more green. On the other hand you can't do that with combustion vehicles, trying to legislate more environmental regulations to existing cars is political suicide.
- KaiserPro 9mo agoThis is highly dependent on your country's approach to power generation. Nitrogen pollution is usually reasonably local to the plant but also can be srubbed. Its not practical to scrub moving objects, but it is for stationary generators. Same with particulates, you can capture quite a lot with electrostatic scrubbers.