Yes, I am aware (why wouldn't I be?).

To me it is obvious that the solution to the global climate change crisis isn't rich countries buying new luxorious cars, that happen to be electric. That's a very western-centric view.

There's no one silver bullet solution. There are dozens of different things that need to happen that, in total, sufficiently reduce the emitted CO2. Surface level transport makes up for a significant amount of worldwide emissions, and as such phasing out petroleum-powered cars for electric-powered cars is absolutely part of the overall solution for climate change.

> To me it is obvious that the solution to the global climate change crisis isn't rich countries buying new luxorious cars, that happen to be electric.

THE solution? Who has ever said the problem is solved with just one thing?

It's certainly a very important part of the solution. Solving climate change is absolutely impossible without electric vehicles and better batteries. This is not just about driving your SUV to your cabin, it's about transportation of goods, farming, mining etc. We're also seeing that there's overlap in development of EV batteries and grid batteries (at least for short term frequency regulation).. so there's some synergies there that will be important for increasing the share of renewables.

It just happens that personal cars is the easiest vehicle to implement as BEV first. If rich western countries didn't buy them, and China didn't have the foresight to push BEVs hard, the development could easily have taken 10-20 years longer.

> That's a very western-centric view.

Cars are used in non-western countries too. Now that batteries for vehicles are getting cheaper, you're starting to see BEVs become viable at the very bottom of the market as well. Cheap BEVs and cheap renewable energy will be huge for developing countries. You're already starting to see renewable micro-grids giving a much lower barrier to get access to electricity. Importing oil is expensive for a developing country. Importing refined gasoline is even more expensive.

This is a bit facetious but, my point is that driving to the airport in a tesla isn't solving climate change. The guy in India who lives in a house with dirt for floor is solving climate change, no matter if he likes it or not.

No, the solution is leaving the oil in the ground, anything less than that and what you're making is excuses and not progress. We can't keep moving the goalposts.

There is nothing good for the climate about 13 norwegians (to reference another comment on this article) buying luxurious cars that happen to be electric.

I doubt renewable micro-grids are going to power EVs in the third world anytime soon, but that would be nice I guess.

Agreed, ideally there's be more walking, (electric) biking, and public transit.

Still though, switching from gasoline cars to electric ones is a substantial improvement.

In the US, 68% of the oil is used for transportation:

> https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-produc...

So, yeah, that argument is actually valid.

As stated on that page, motor gasoline was 45% of US petroleum consumption, so 23% of that 68% wouldn't be touched by electric cars. There's also a relatively small amount that ends up in small engines[1], but I'm willing to write that off as a rounding error.

[1] Side note: I'm impressed by the explosion of high-quality electric replacements for small gasoline engines over the past few years. All my power yard tools are electric; the only gasoline engines we own our the car and the generator.