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The True Impact of EVs

An interesting piece from The Engineer comparing the whole life energy costs of a Polestar and the equivalent petrol Volvo. There are obviously a number of assumptions that can be challenged but it tends to support my current view that replacing my 13 year old diesel with  an EV does not yet make sense.

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The comments also raise some interesting points.

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  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    As a petrolhead, I'm a fan of Harry's Garage U Tube videos, so please forgive my bias and take a look at.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVFJUxeGFAE


    Whilst I favour electric vehicles in heavily populated cities where local pollution is a known cause of serious health issues the argument for banning ICE vehicles completely is flawed.  Various studies have estimated the carbon break-even mileage of an EV to be between 50,000 and 100,000 miles and ironically this is about the same as the average mileage of cars before they are scrapped.  On top of that, EVs are not zero emission, as Harry explains, since they rely on electricity which is mostly generated by burning fossil fuels - depending on where you live the carbon emissions of an EV vary roughly between 40% and 110% of the equivalent ICE vehicle.  Fair enough, if all electricity generation was zero emission, which it may eventually be, then there is a credible argument for supportiing EVs.  But with the ever increasing need for electricity to charge EVs, this is not likely to happen by 2030.  Even the newly approved Rolls Royce nuclear power plants are unlikely to be available by 2030 and we all know, wind generators don't really help, as conventional power stations are all running at sub-optimal efficiency ready to pick up the slack when the wind drops.


    I was angry when the UK government advocated and even supported the purchase of diesel cars over petrol because I know that the pollution from diesel vehicles is worse.  And, in usual fashion, when they finally realise the error, there is talk of subsidy for people to replace diesel cars but no compensation for those who chose to incur the extra cost of buying petrol cars.  I wonder how long it will take for them to wake up to the mis-information about EVs.




Reply
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    As a petrolhead, I'm a fan of Harry's Garage U Tube videos, so please forgive my bias and take a look at.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVFJUxeGFAE


    Whilst I favour electric vehicles in heavily populated cities where local pollution is a known cause of serious health issues the argument for banning ICE vehicles completely is flawed.  Various studies have estimated the carbon break-even mileage of an EV to be between 50,000 and 100,000 miles and ironically this is about the same as the average mileage of cars before they are scrapped.  On top of that, EVs are not zero emission, as Harry explains, since they rely on electricity which is mostly generated by burning fossil fuels - depending on where you live the carbon emissions of an EV vary roughly between 40% and 110% of the equivalent ICE vehicle.  Fair enough, if all electricity generation was zero emission, which it may eventually be, then there is a credible argument for supportiing EVs.  But with the ever increasing need for electricity to charge EVs, this is not likely to happen by 2030.  Even the newly approved Rolls Royce nuclear power plants are unlikely to be available by 2030 and we all know, wind generators don't really help, as conventional power stations are all running at sub-optimal efficiency ready to pick up the slack when the wind drops.


    I was angry when the UK government advocated and even supported the purchase of diesel cars over petrol because I know that the pollution from diesel vehicles is worse.  And, in usual fashion, when they finally realise the error, there is talk of subsidy for people to replace diesel cars but no compensation for those who chose to incur the extra cost of buying petrol cars.  I wonder how long it will take for them to wake up to the mis-information about EVs.




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