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Something we all know already about the price of operating a car vs electric
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This is a ridiculous comparison (with a study done by an insurance company that are "Specialists In Classic Bike & Car Insurance")! They are comparing the manufacturing of a new vehicle that will most likely be used as a daily driver vs driving a classic car for only 1200 miles per year. How do you compare those two things with a straight face? They don't take into account the manufacturing of the classic car and the emissions that it has produced over its lifespan.
Now if they looked at the costs for a brand new Dodge Hellcat vs a Tesla Model S, that would be interesting to see. Both driven the same amount of miles, how much of a difference over a 10 year period would those have.
Now if they looked at the costs for a brand new Dodge Hellcat vs a Tesla Model S, that would be interesting to see. Both driven the same amount of miles, how much of a difference over a 10 year period would those have.
Not much brilliance that I could find in that article. Sure building a new vehicle has an environmental impact TODAY. There is however, an environmental toll for every vehicle built. Classic cars were built at one point and I can promise you they had plenty of environmental impact when they were. Likely MUCH more so than today where efficiency and environmental protection is much more evolved. Compare the total impact of a classic vs a new vehicle and it won't even be close. Still there is a point to be made that better utilizing existing vehicles vs fufilling our never ending thirst for the latest and greatest would be a sound strategy. Of course the article isn't really making the point that we should utilize our classics as daily drivers since that actually would very quickly tip the scales away from their so called "greenness" since they pollute at an exorbitant rate. Overall, the problem with keeping vehicles longer is that that doesn't fit with what we apparently want (that never ending thirst thing), especially so in the developed world. Were to go then? Short of convincing people to keep their vehicles longer, building new vehicles as environmentally soundly as possible and making them as efficient as possible seems to make sense to me.
We usually keep our vehicles 10 years plus thats why I look for simplicity when I buy something. I don't want any turbocharged, 4 cylinder thats going to grenade itself before 200,000kms attached to a CVT that has the life span of a fruit fly thanks. Give me a NA V6 or V8 with a torque converter slushbox or a manual any day. I don't want an EV as the charging infrastructure up here in our slice of Canada isn't great and sitting off the highway, in a lineup at a charger while on a road trip doesn't sound like a great time to me.
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As a classic car owner, I actually thought it was interesting.
An ev Wouldn't make any sense for me, maybe it does for others.
I don't bash the ev cars, but don't bash classics either.
All the coal mined, and burned, to produce electricity to charge them, is an ongoing source of pollution though, that many people don't consider. Plus the diesel engine trains to haul it to the plants.
An ev Wouldn't make any sense for me, maybe it does for others.
I don't bash the ev cars, but don't bash classics either.
All the coal mined, and burned, to produce electricity to charge them, is an ongoing source of pollution though, that many people don't consider. Plus the diesel engine trains to haul it to the plants.
Dang, you guys went ham on that link!
The point of the PDF is more about classic cars than it is about EVs. It's a comparison that makes perfect sense if you are interested in owning or do own a classic that you tool around in a bit every year. It's not intended to say that a classic is better than an EV environmentally. It's just meant to point out that just buying a new EV has a large environmental impact to start with.
So if you wanted a classic to tool around in but were thinking maybe I should get a EV instead to be environmentally conscious, you'd be wrong about the environmental impact of your decision. It's rather obvious once it's pointed out, but people are often unaware of rather obvious things and sometimes, maybe many times, it helps us to have them pointed out.
The point of the PDF is more about classic cars than it is about EVs. It's a comparison that makes perfect sense if you are interested in owning or do own a classic that you tool around in a bit every year. It's not intended to say that a classic is better than an EV environmentally. It's just meant to point out that just buying a new EV has a large environmental impact to start with.
So if you wanted a classic to tool around in but were thinking maybe I should get a EV instead to be environmentally conscious, you'd be wrong about the environmental impact of your decision. It's rather obvious once it's pointed out, but people are often unaware of rather obvious things and sometimes, maybe many times, it helps us to have them pointed out.
And I am not looking forward to standing on a hilltop and seeing only wind turbines, or solar panels, in every direction for as far as the eye can see. And what happens when everybody does eventually become totally dependent upon that electricity, who is going to hold the key?
Bill
Oil companies have the key now. That is soooo much better.
Today there is still competition between energy sources and thus alternatives, that will no longer be present when there is only electricity, and I am thinking beyond just transportation. An even greater question is what I referenced above, where is all of this additional electricity going to come from where the grid today is already undependable in keeping up just with current demand? Especially if they close down fossil fuel power plants and removal of hydroelectric dams?
Bill
When the question is, “where will the energy come from?”, the discussion rarely mentions that we should perhaps strive to simply use less energy, for example: driving less, driving slower, driving more efficient vehicles, etc.
I’d like to think that had we not squandered away several decades of potential development time while we sat back and enjoyed the convenience of oil, we might already have more and better electric cars, and the infrastructure to support them.
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