Motorists have been tricked into believing that electric cars are ‘pollution free’ but that’s just a fairy tale so long as coal, oil and natural gas are used to generate electricity. Just because emissions don’t come out your tailpipe doesn’t mean they don’t exist!
Producing batteries for electric cars requires extensive amounts of nickel, cobalt, and lithium, which causes environmental havoc in developing countries where mining takes place. The process to build an electric car creates more pollution than a gas-powered car. But at least it doesn’t happen here!
The “Three R’s” of environmentalism are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. But that first “R” is incongruous with consumer society. To keep people consuming, and prevent them from reducing, take away the guilt. Insultingly refer to petrol-powered cars as ‘gas-guzzlers’ to give electric car drivers a sense of moral superiority. Consumers can then buy bigger, heavier and excessively powerful electric cars while looking in the mirror and believing they’re saving the planet.
Car companies have dirty hands; everything from the Ford Pinto the VW’s Dieselgate has proven this. But over the decades, improvements have been made. Modern cars have smaller engines with improved fuel efficiency to reduce gasoline consumption. But the shift to electric cars has motorists asking themselves why should they ‘reduce’ at all? The car is electric, no fossil fuels, no pollution… driving one makes you the good guy!
Years from now, when we’re building containment areas for all these used-up batteries, this era will be looked back upon as a panicked, foolish rush by governments to adopt unproven technology. The electric car is not the answer. The solution is to reduce energy consumption.
Totally agree with you. Electric cars & buses are just glorified milk floats
I misread your comment at first. Thought you totally dis-agreed with me, and I would have someone to debate this morning!
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Glad we’re on the same team.
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But artycaz, forgive me…what is a milk float?
See if this link to YouTube works, they were all the rage in the UK a few decades ago 😁
https://youtu.be/pPDHX-aI8mw?si=3DFuMzEJ4ZCSNhqt
Yup. The link worked. I couldn’t believe they were delivering milk 15 years ago… seems like something from 50 years ago.
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But that milk float does not look like an enjoyable ride. Imagine trying to run from the cops in that thjng? Or rush to the hospital. Or basically drive anywhere
Haha! True Damaras, my husband was a milkman, many moons ago & although max speed was 10 miles per hour 😅 he had some adventures. I more meant the noise they make, almost undetectable ( like the electric cars) No give me a Mustang anyday, with a proper engine. Not that I’ve ever driven one, but I’ve heard a few & it’s good to dream. In the real world I have a Fiat 500 Dolcevita, which I love for its economy driving & cute looks. The only car I did own with some oomph was a Mazda MX5, which I loved, but she was too expensive to keep for long. Happy driving 😊
I actually watched that Milk Float video on my TV so I could get the full impact of the video and sound. That milk truck makes some weird noise starting from the lights (struggles). I wanted to get kut and push the guy.
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The Fiat 500 is totally cool. My wife did a coin flip between that and her Mini when buying.
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Ive never been in a Mustang either …but I have an MX5 Miata and despite being a quarter century old car this hear, its a peppy car.
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😔 This is all too true, Chris. the picture of the children is heartbreaking but is certainly the way of the world. there are a few of those cyberdumpsters driving around in this area and i am stymied. they are not pleasing to look at. the visibility looks to be terrible. they have quality issues. the rivian exists which makes me wonder what in the world the cybertruck customer is actually drawn to. the exclusivity? but i get you aren’t just talking about the cybertruck but oh my goodness, it’s such an obvious hunk of ugliness. looks a like bit like its maker actually. all that is to say, im with you.
I think the cybertruck is a good example of the problem. Its just style over substance (and the styling is questionable).
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If 30% of US electricity production being from coal fired plants, that means every 3rd time an owner charges their Tesla, its running on coal. Think about that!
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If the mining for those rare metals to make EV batteries destroys the environment in Nigeria, do Americans care?
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And beyond the image of the child labourers, the working conditions in lithium mines in Congo are sub-human. Workers live like slaves. We could never stand for such practices in Canada, right? But as long as its “over there” nobody cares.
i believe i saw a video awhile back of the men and boys doing the lithium mining. horrific and shameful that america allows such a travesty, especially in the name of making a buck.
That’s the dark side of capitalism, isn’t it? And Im no commie, you know; Im a business owner myself.
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But when profit can be increased and cost decreased by ignoring worker safety, that’s what will happen.
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I read an article defending the EV by saying that while mining practices NOW are deplorable, political pressure on foreign governments and entities can bring about change.
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That BS.
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When the motivating factor is profit, the only thing that will make a mining company in Zimbabwe change their methods is an embargo. And with consumer demand for iPhones and EVs so high, that’s never gonna happen.
i’m no commie either. i just think capitalism at all costs is wrong. i believe there can be humanistic capitalism but it isn’t practiced much. toyota has some elements of it. in georgetown ky they took the money they didn’t have to pay in taxes and invested in the local community.
but yeah, we are all moving so quickly in our self-driving electric cars with our noses glued to the phone, who has a moment to think about whether the fact that we CAN necessarily means we SHOULD.
I don’t know. Maybe Im wrong. Maybe if BBC and The Atlantic continue their hard-hitting reporting about slave labour and child labour in Africa, people across North America will refuse to buy iPhones until the companies that make the batteries commit to humane practices in mining.
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Maybe people just need to be shown what happens in developing countries like Sri Lanka when the lowest price is demanded from Walmart. Everyone will just buy locally made products at 10X the cost, rather than exploit their “fellow man”
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Or maybe we’ll all just zone-out on TikTok videos and ignore these problems.
Absolutely. Electric cars are another government con job. Our state passed a mandate that 43% of new cars for sale in NM have to be zero emissions (electric cars) starting next year. The problem is electric cars are not popular out here, we don’t have the electric infrastructure to support a lot of electric cars, and the prices are out of reach for most people. Governmental shortsightedness, messing with the market because of clueless, rich politicians in the legislature who are totally out of touch with their constituents.
The problem with government mandates is that they’re issued by politicians who don’t know what they’re talking about. The state of California also passed an electric car mandate but has yet to do anything to ensure sufficient infrastructure. I like the idea of an EV, but the reality falls far short, as Demaras has demonstrated. So I still run gas-powered.
I font believe it is the duty of the state to build infrastructure in this case. I think we should look at China and their NIO brand. They did it right.
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Convert gas stations to bTtery swap stations. Yiu dont need millions of charging cables. Just a place down the street where they swap your empty battery for a full one. And yes… private businesses paid for it.
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https://demaras.com/2024/03/18/chinas-nio-has-the-ev-solution-just-change-the-batteries/
I’ll say this much. If the government mandates that all cars sold by 2030 must be electric, then the government is obligated to ensure the needed infrastructure is available. We can debate the how, but in a case like that, surely not the need.
Interesting. I read in the UK the gov’t set EV sales targets that car companies had to meet. Guess what? Despite subsidies, the mandated number of EVs cannot be met, and those same companies are threatening to shut down UK sales. See what happens when you F with the free market?!?
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And the whole infrastructure issue is a joke. In Totonto they want to put charging stations on every street and parking lot. Spend tens of millions doing it. Wait until the tech changes and all that stuff is deemed obsolete.
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A Nissan Leaf from 8 years ago cannot even use a current gen charging station. I have 6 cars in my fleet and none are newer than 8 years.
My pickup truck is 43, our Mazdaspeed3 is 17, and my MX-5 is 8 years old.
And when the government prevents car companies from selling gas-powered cars, just think how significant a 1980 pickup will be.
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Keep them, man.
BBC and Atlantic do good work but most people i know get their news from high level sources such as facebook and fox news, sadly.
i think we are all oversaturated with tragedy porn. it’s impossible to care about all the people being sex-trafficked, and the ones in a drought and the ones whose homes are burning down and the ones whose countries are being invaded by bully neighboring countries. all i can do is refuse to buy an electric car and be mindful of my choices. and hold out hope that there is possibility for change, even if on a local level.
You make a very interesting point which I never thought of. How can I care about things happening around me when I’m blasted with human misery on TV news? It almost makes you cold towards a story of suffering.
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I think that on the automotive front, there is hope. There’s a car called the Toyota Toyota Mirai which runs on hydrogen (fuel cell) and while the technology is not ripe yet, it’s progressing. Drive to your local fueling station and top up. No need to enslave the poor or run wires all over the city.
just looked up the Mirai. wow that looks extremely interesting! greg says it is only available in california right now but i’ll be watching for it to come east.
Yes, California is always ahead of the curve with car stuff. Plus Toyota needed a densely populated area to set up those hydrogen fueling stations (forget about Nebraska!) but the technology behind hydrogen fuel cells is interesting. And maybe hydrogen isn’t the perfect solution, but it’s worth exploring.
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And that’s what makes me nuts now; everybody (consumers and gov’t included) just running to jump on the EV bandwagon.