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When It Comes to the Environment, There Really Is No Such Thing as a “Good” Car
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this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2024
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I'm not sure I follow.
They are saying there are zero cars that fit the bill. Why is an "unusual" car not part of "all cars"? It's a basic question of what set is being considered.
Of course if you limit "cars" to be anything that is over 1000lbs with an engine, THAT set of "cars" is going to be far less economical than some other vehicles that many would still call a "car".
I personally think of “automobiles” so self powered vehicles. Velomobiles (human powered) are cool but i live in the mountains and I do not get decent comfort with them.
My daily driver, is a Renault Twizy. It comes with a (electric) engine, steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, a roof, a windshield and other stuff most people associate with “car”. It also weights about 400 kg empty and four of them use less parking space than one traditional car. I power it with solar power for my own roof. It maxes out at about 80 km/h which makes it suitable for short trips on the Autobahn.
Might not be a usual car but still quite traditional and much more energy efficient than a 2100 kg Tesla.
I get you now. But I still feel like "car" is intended to be (or ought to be) narrowly defined as a 1000-lb metal box on wheels with an engine. I think referring to other vehicles as "cars" just muddles the discourse.
Then again, I'm conflicted. If I replace "car" with another word like "meat" or "milk", I have a different reaction. If someone wrote an article about factory-farm chickens vs free-range chickens and said, "There really is no such thing as 'good' meat," I'd definitely chime in with, "What about vegan meat?"
Maybe it's because I perceive the gap between animal meat and vegan meat as narrower than the gap between 1000-lb metal boxes with engines and other types of vehicles. Like... if I have to pedal, it's not a car.
Is the Flintstones car a "car"?
Well, in that vein, there are many light weight solar powered "cars". Some formula of solar panels don't use much of rare/bad materials, and salt batteries are already a thing, so certain constructions wouldn't need to climb much of a hill to become a net-positive.