How many times do we have to go through this? The ways to make fossil fuel cars better for the environment than electric ones, generally follow these instructions.
- Count up environmental costs of electric car manufacturing, roundup everywhere you can, assume the worst
- Forget to count up the carbon emissions of creating the fossil fuel car- usually about 80% of what an electric car emissions would be
- Don’t bother to count the emissions for extracting and transporting the fossil fuels that run the cars
- Assume that the electricity that the electric car runs on is the most dirty in the world
- Point at the result
The insanity of this study is mind-blowing. It would of course be almost impossible for it to be published in any respected scientific journal, as it tried to claim that an electric car would have to drive for nearly 50,000 miles before emissions were similar. Now it should be noted, that few if any cars are thrown away before they reach 50,000 miles. As such, even in this absurd topsy turvy world, these vested interests still cannot bring themselves to claim that Electric cars are worse for the planet over their life time, merely for the first 50,000 miles. Research done by reputable scientists found that on average a Nissan Leaf is responsible for about a third of emissions of a similar sized fossil fuel car over its lifespan, and that the break even point depending on the vehicle can be under 10,000 miles.
Indeed a car with only 50,000 miles on the clock the second hand market would still be worth a significant amount of money, and as such would significantly undercut fossil fuel cars anyway.
Other companies involved in paying for this study include Bosch Honda and mclaren. Funnily enough, it has now become clear that members of these companies were involved in writing the report as well.
The study was based on an investigation of the polestar 2, the electric project at Volvo. This study overestimated electric car emissions by more than a third- according to the company’s chief executive.
Many car companies continue to try to eliminate the controls the government has put in place, or to water them down. These companies unknowingly pushing the world towards a point of no return.
Pressure should be put on them, and as consumers we should not give them up business until they start treating the world in a way that will not damage our children and grandchildren.