Memes

Electric cars are here to save the car industry, not the environment.

The most environmentally friendly car is the car you already have, and the most environmentally friendly (also safest, healthiest, quietest, just in general the most considerate) way to get from point A to point B is by walking, biking, bus, or train.

The only time EV saves the environment is when all of the following are met:

• your old car is completely gone,
• there is zero way to get to where you need to be without a car,
• and you have been fighting for good transport and safe bike lane all along.

It does

I bought an electric car because it was a better car for my needs. I got a good deal on it. Electric cars have fewer, simpler moving parts. They require fewer oil changes and don’t have to deal with heat dissipation. I can also have it plugged into my house each night, which means I always have a “full tank” every morning. I can set the heat or air conditioning to come on on a schedule because it doesn’t produce carbon monoxide. The car is much quieter and drives a lot smoother.

They have a lot of benefits, but they don’t exactly save the environment. Lithium mining is very destructive to the local environment and it’s done in countries with questionable ethics around worker health and safety. Most experts agree that over the lifespan of a car, electric cars are better for the world environment than gas vehicles, but if you really want to make an impact on the environment, taking public transit or biking or walking or other forms of micro-mobility would actually make a way bigger impact. And if those kinds of things are difficult where you live, you should really be supporting public policy to make that better.

Very good. Bottom panel could also read "to save the automotive industry ☝️"

... or walk?

Fewer CO2 emissions is a good goal if you are going to buy a car. Keeping it as long as possible is a better goal.

The train doesn't stop at the recycling centre. Nor does it stop at my childrens' schools. Ditto my office, the supermarket, IKEA, the house of the person I just bought weed from.

The layout of our towns expanded with the ubiquity of cars. Services agglomerated and became situated where land was cheap rather than central.

Bikes and light mass transit have their use cases but removing cars is not feasible for the majority of households

Or the tree trunk grew to the asphalt.

Doesn't matter, companies love greenwashing these days

They’re significantly less damaging to the environment but the lithium mining is awful and the resources to generate electric currently are pretty damning. But all things considered, even with those they are significantly more eco friendly so if we could focus on green electric generation EV’s would be extremely more friendly.

But a real solution to green transportation involves cutting out vehicles for personal use. Using public transportation like buses and stuff (which can be electric too) would cut down on transportation emissions significantly. Intercity travel is tough because of the distance. Trains are an option, but honestly they aren’t fast enough for most people when you’re traveling hundreds of miles. I think electric cars are still the better option there. Them moving trucks to electric is a big help too. Tractor trailers aren’t as inefficient as many people think. They use exhaust fluid to curb tons of emissions. But they do an extreme amount of driving so it still has a significant impact.

More solar, wind, or hydro electric would make us a very green planet that costs a lot of money and not much interest from people with the money to do it. It’s a solved problem, but no one wants to implement the solution