Comment on Electric cars are bad for the environment
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
Depends on how 'bad' is defined. Does it matter if Lithium in an Afghan desert sits under sand or as a battery in a car ? Water usage is red herring because its renewable unless you drain underground aquifers.
Ignoring that, the headline should still be 'Batteries are bad'. Rest of the car is less intensive to build because electric motors are simple and servicing is not needed compared to the brutal work gas engines do.
Why am I quibbling about this small detail ? Because there are electric vehicles without batteries that run under transmission lines like trains. They're efficient for predictable routes like freight or passenger buses. As long as electricity is generated by natural gas or wind/solar, its 'greener', though not 100% green.
For personal vehicles, you are correct, batteries take so much energy to make, it will never be green.
squashkin@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
maybe better batteries could be made, like ones that use compressed air
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
There's a best tool for every use case. For 'green' personal use auto, its best to use an old beater with ICE, rather than build new cars.
Just the steel production for a bicycle renders it completely un-green.
squashkin@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
could greener bikes be made of something instead of steel?
could existing ICE-mobiles be tuned up with new engines to keep them chugging along efficiently?
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
Bikes even been made out of even really compacted paper, which is basically wood. Question is who will buy them ? I've bought and used maybe 12 cheap bikes in the past 30 years, all steel, though Alu/Carbon fiber bikes seem nice too. Market forces will drive this, tech is already there.
ICE old beaters can run forever. Cuba had trade embargo for 50 years now ? I went there in 2019, the old cars still run fine. Of course things will stop working and need to replaced. ICEs are doing controlled explosions all the time, so there is intense wear/tear compared to electric motors which are service free.