Regardless how you power it, private automobiles will always be ineffecient and have a massive resource cost. The EV isn't here to save the planet, it's here to save the car industry. This is part of why we need the conversation to shift to energy efficiency instead of just emissions.
Also never forget the tires. We're breathing them.
And there are a lot of cases where we could just stop commuting....
And ceramic brake dust! Yummy 😋
But employers are increasingly ordering people back to work and even just the fear of it is measurably impact staff wellbeing.
The push for RTO put on full display how bullshit the push for EVs "for the environment" is. If .gov was actually serious about helping the environment, WFH would be encouraged when possible. It obviously isn't feasible for many (probably most) jobs, but removing the vehicles that you can from the roads is still a step in the right direction.
Many (probably most) jobs are bullshit jobs just to make the economy roll.
If we skipped the middleman, and just fed everyone, we would cost environmental costs by 90%.
Some studies have shown work from home may eliminate the commute miles, but those miles are replaced with leisure and errands miles. So ultimately we still need transit to replace a lot of car trips cause be it work, grocceries, or a night out, people need to get places.
We need to pull all strings. I didn't say people don't need to get places. I just stated there are many cases where it's not required. Corona has shown what we could do if we wanted.
In wonder if, in terms of logistics, delivery of groceries and online shopping could be a good thing.
Of course not with instant-services like Flink. Of course not with single-use cardboard boxes and worker exploitation.
More like the good old milkman. People order their groceries, and they are delivered in reusable boxes next day, old boxes picked up. Same with online shopping.
Both is already a thing, but few do it. Maybe it would work much better if a huge percentage of people would do it, e. g. 15 % for grocery delivery. The grocery truck would not have to do more miles than if it would deliver to the current 1 % (guessed), just needs to be bigger and have more stops.
In communities that are not built to live car-less, that might save many individual car trips.
At my place there are two supermarkets within 500m, no need for any driving besides one lorry supplying the markets.
People will come up with any solution so long as it still relies on roads. The parent comment to this thread is all about tire dust and this solution just replaces private tire dust with commercial tire dust. The system you propose would still be more complicated, energy and resource intensive than people just taking transit to the groccery store.
The EVs' carbon footprint is marginally smaller, and even that tiny difference is highly dependant on drivers taking care of their cars and using them for many years. The only realistic advantage is that the pollution moves from cities to power plants. It's a pretty nice improvement, but it does nothing to 'save the planet'.
Some smaller gasoline cars actually beat out the total impact (production, use, disposal) of oversized electric trucks or SUVs
Or how about this for a title: getting people to use smaller vehicles in general is the better environmental choice.
Not a perfect title, trains, trams and buses are larger than SUVs but far more effecient unless carrying just 1 passenger.
No, the above title is better, since it more accurately describes the article.
Transit may be more efficient, but that’s not in the article
The article is about the best use of batteries, not the best environmental choice.
Trains > busses and trams > Smaller EVs > Electric Boats > efficient gas vehicles > large EVs > innefficient gas and diesel vehicles incl boats> Airplanes
The issue with electrifying rail networks is that it’s very expensive and modern diesel-electric locomotives are already over a hundred times more efficient than trucks. So while it does reduce emissions to replace a diesel locomotive with a fully electric train you’re far better off getting hundreds of trucks off the road and adding one new diesel-electric locomotive!
Walking and cycling should probably be right after buses and trams.
Right after? Depends on the scenario. For shorter trips like grocery shopping (depending on your area) it may not make very much sense to take a bus or tram.
Honestly it should first and we should be trying to maximize and prioritize active transport trips.
This is true. I love my eBike. I highly suggest anyone buying a Specialized Turbo Levo.
Prefacing with, I want an e-bike.
As someone who commuted for a decade on a non e-bike. I'm legitimately wondering how we integrate them into existing infrastructure in the US. 50cc is the limit for gas engines before you need a motorcycle license, which at the high end is ~5HP. I'm seeing e-bikes with way more than 5HP being used on sidewalks. I don't have an answer to the problem but it scares me to have such easy access to basically motorcycles that are classified as bicycles. I spent 2 decades sweating and learning to ride fast, now an inexperienced idiot can do 20+ mph when they have no business going that fast.
I do a hill ride that takes me a mile or two up a mountain and I easily catch 40mph when bombing down the mountain. But on regular bike paths, I can’t make the motor go faster than 19mph. Unless I am on a hill. It’s 100% peddle assist and has no throttle. As why it’s a level 1. I wanna throttled eBike next. Or I might just buy a motorcycle. Electric or gas.
The electric Humvee has entered the chat. It has over 200kWh worth of batteries, enough to make 3 more normal-sized EVs. And lord help you if one of those hits you.
If we need to prioritise like that, wouldn't it be smart to put electric buses even higher than those other two forms of individual transport?
Only if those buses regularly carry less than 4 people.
You mean more instead of less?
I don't follow
Empty buses that stop a lot are not good. Making them electric doesn't improve the emissions that much.
E bikes have 3 grams of direct CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre
e-scooters have of 25 grams per passenger kilometre.
Long-distance buses generate around 31 grams of CO2 per passenger kilometre.
Electric buses have a CO2 footprint of 72 grams per passenger kilometre
Diesel buses have a CO2 value of 96 grams.
Cars have 166 grams of CO2 equivalents per passenger kilometre driven, (with an average occupancy rate of 1.4 persons per car)
I don't really know how to understand the site in this context, since it says bicycles produce zero carbon emissions, so it can't be taking vehicle production into account, and the topic at hand is resources required in production. And battery constituents at that, not carbon emissions.
Also: buses are empty when the service is shitty. It's being proven every day that people choose the method of transport where the offer is good, be that car centric infrastructure, bike paths, or convenient public transport.
One thing that annoyed me with the actually good large bill before trump was the lack of incentives for e-bikes.
You mean IRA?
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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