Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.
The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years. Tackling the climate and air pollution crises requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible. Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions.
Yeah, I’ll just haul my kids around on an electric bike when it’s 20 degrees F (-7 C) with a windchill around 0 (-18 C), which also coincides with EVs getting absolute shit range because current batteries hate holding charges at that temperature. Also, I drive a 20 year old vehicle with 190,000 miles that I paid $3000 for 6 years ago or so. EVs and even E-bikes cost a whole lot more than that without the utility.
On top of that, calling vehicles that contain lithium batteries “zero-carbon” is laughable. The mining, refining, and manufacturing process in itself is an environmental disaster. I agree we need to find new modes of transportation powered by methods other than burning coal, natural gas, and dinosaur juice, but we don’t currently have the solution to this problem.
Manufacturing electric cars generates a bit more emissions than internal combustion cars, at least now while the technology is relatively young. Last time I read about it, an internal combustion car would catch up and pass the electric equivalent in emissions in a couple of years of normal use.
EVs getting absolute shit range because current batteries hate holding charges at that temperature
That’s blatantly false and shows just how little you know. The reduced range is due to the heating (both cabin and battery) performed. You don’t even need to heat the battery, but it will perform better when warmer.
There is no significant waste heat on EVs like the ~70% there is on ICEs, so the energy for heating cannot be passively recovered but has to be actively spent. If you disabled all heating (which is obviously not feasible), the reduction in range would be significantly less.
The reduced range is due to the heating (both cabin and battery) performed.
Right, so they still get reduced range in the cold. I now understand the “why” part of it.
You don’t even need to heat the battery, but it will perform better when warmer.
Except that in extreme cold like the region gets where I live, apparently you do actually need to warm up the battery if you want it to take a charge.
As for Tesla, that’s a non-starter for me. Even setting aside my feelings about their CEO, the build quality isn’t something I’d accept anyways even if there was an option that was viable in my case.
The bottom line is that the cost of entry, lack of an option that comfortably carries 5 people and a large dog, and the lack of charging infrastructure (in my area at least) are barriers that most people don’t want to, or can’t deal with.
I do agree that we need an option to phase out ICE vehicles, but we’re just not there yet for a whole lot of people.
Yes for fast charging (>50kW) the battery needs to be warm so it doesn’t get damaged, this goes for all EVs and isn’t Tesla-specific.
But yeah EV range is an issue for some, although not the vast majority. For most people, these issues are theoretical because they so rarely actually use their car in a way that they would encounter them. In reality it’s only an inconvenience they might encounter a few times per year, if at all. Most driving by far is done well within winter range of any EV on the market, if you have the ability to either charge at home or at work with “slow” AC charging.
