anyway i think this ad illustrates the difference nicely.
It's a good way to put the general wastefulness we exhibit with electricity into perspective though.
Existing electricity generation goes to powering existing consumers. We'd burn those fossil fuels whether or not we bought more electric cars. Electric cars are a new electricity consumer. So the source of energy for this additional electricity is what matters.
In 2022, 83% of new electric capacity was from renewable sources. [1]
We can quibble about timing issues. For example, there's a lot of solar energy during the day but electric cars are often charged at night. But it's clear that renewable energy and electric cars are rising together.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_renewable...
Power plants can run at near constant rpm, and power thousands of households; inspections of emissions equipment and practices at that site can be enforced and fixed. Versus the same thousands of cars, a few have a check engine light on, a few have a leaking oil gasket, a few have a worn out ignition system, some of them bought contaminated gas. Any parking lot oil stain disproves you.
You really start noticing these things around you when you’ve got used to the clean and silent operation of an BEV. And I’ve certainly noticed the cost savings - going from filling a tank with £60 of petrol to charging my car conveniently at home for £5
In this day and age? Which car do you 'smell the fumes' or 'the vibration' unless the vibration is intentional (for the experience).
Also, the older the car, the more you’ll start getting weird smells and more vibrations. Oil leaks, motor mounts wearing out, etc. Most of those can be fixed, but who hasn’t driven a car earlier in their youth that perhaps wasn’t in the best shape? I knew a guy who drove a car that he had to put a liter of oil in it every 1000mi… none of those are problems with an EV besides perhaps aging suspension components.
Emphasis on the "at home" part. Unless you have your own home with private parking and charger, EV ownership is a pain due to how expensive ,lacking and shit public charging infrastructure is. I'll have to stick to an ICE until they fix those since owning a house with my own parking space doesn't seem to be on the cards for me financially. People somehow forget this demographic exists.
On paper they can get great times around a track have instant torque and all the things we already know, but in real life they feel like a kitchen appliance. Some people like that and more power to them. For a gearhead it leaves so much to be desired.
And who's buying them? All I hear is loud pipes everywhere which is probably why motorcycle lovers buy them in the first place.
>just not in the US where they're mostly leisure vehicles
How come the leisure vehicle argument doesn't also apply to ICE cars then?
It doesn’t because 40 year old Samantha who buys a minivan to take her 3 kids to soccer practice would have nothing to do with cars or buying a car if she lived in a place where the fastest transportation option was literally anything other than driving. She (and by extension the average car buyer) is just buying whatever the minimum cost and maximum reliability product that lets her accomplish what she wants to, which is everything other than driving or cars. By contrast the motorcycle market in the US is basically all enthusiasts lol. The 20 year old car guys who like working on their old sports cars are such a small percent of the market they don’t really matter when it comes to EV’s being boring stopping electrification.
Motorbikes have been mostly superseded by electric bikes in China. I’m sure the same thing will happen in Southeast Asia, but the last time I was there in 2016 it hadn’t happened yet.
For around a city or a commute to work they’re great, but very impractical for going on a ride.
The Ariya's real heavy, but it's surprisingly nimble. The Bolt feels zippy and doesn't weigh much more than the average SUV.
Definitely feel you on the appliance thing. Electric cars are almost too easy to drive.
It’s hard to describe really, but driving an ICE car by now simply feels — wrong. And I don’t mean on a moral level, I really mean the feeling of the physical act of driving.