I drive an EV. I do not suggest that others drive an EV. It's the car for me, it might not be the car for you. Despite this, I have a friend that constantly engages in discussion with me on why I won't be able to convince her to get an EV.
I have never tried to convince anyone to get one! I'm not sure why she does this.
EVs & hybrids are good for #climate. Ford's EV & hybrid sales are up, which is a good sign that many Americans care about mitigating the #climatecrisis.
Are electric cars better for the environment than fuel-powered cars? Here's the verdict - ABC News
(At least for the Australian power market)
I’d also like to see these types of charts include battery replacement. And this doesn’t address the increasing issue of carbon use due to city structure caused by the reliance on cars as opposed to building and zoning for local & mass transit. #EVs#Electrification#ClimateCrisis https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-27/comparing-electric-cars-and-petrol-cars/103746132
#EVs need ~30 lbs of cobalt, so the US needs millions of tons for the EV boom, which will continue to push 1000s of Black women, men, and children into pits and tunnels.
Of the 255,000 Congolese mining for cobalt, 40,000 are children. They might work for around $2USD/day.
No one knows how many have been killed in the mines.
The Congo has over 90x the amount of cobalt in the U.S., where #Indigenous people are exploited for it.
The world's largest battery-electric container ship, Greenwater 01, has started regular service between Shanghai and Nanjing.
The Greenwater 01 is 394 feet long and 78 feet wide, and the main battery needed to power it has a capacity of over 50,000 kilowatt-hours — more energy than it would take to power four average-sized households for an entire year. Even more battery capacity can be added for longer journeys.
#China#BYD#EVs#USA: "“The Western markets did not democratize EVs. They gentrified EVs,” said Bill Russo, the founder of the Automobility Ltd. consultancy in Shanghai. “And when you gentrify, you limit the size of the market. China is all about democratizing EVs, and that’s what will ultimately lead Chinese companies to be successful as they go global.”
Inside a huge garage in an industrial area west of Detroit, a company called Caresoft Global tore apart a Seagull that its China office purchased and shipped to the U.S.
Company President Terry Woychowski, a former chief engineer on General Motors’ big pickup trucks, said the car is a “clarion call” for the U.S. auto industry, which is years behind China in designing low-cost EVs.
After the teardown, Woychowski, who has been in the auto business for 45 years, said he was left wondering if U.S. automakers can adjust. “Things will have to change in some radical ways in order to be able to compete,” he said."
#Tesla#EVs#AI#Autopilot#SelfDrivingCars: "Tesla Inc. must face a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that it misled consumers about its cars’ self-driving capabilities, a fresh setback for the electric-car maker just as Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has staked the company’s future on autonomy.
Tesla has been accused of overstating in 2016 that all its upcoming cars would have the “hardware needed for full self-driving capability” and would be able to drive themselves from Los Angeles to New York City by the end of 2017.
“If Tesla meant to convey that its hardware was sufficient to reach high or full automation,” the complaint “plainly alleges sufficient falsity,” US District Judge Rita Lin wrote in an order Wednesday."
Tesla is being sued by the Environmental Democracy Project, which alleges “ongoing failure to comply with the Clean Air Act” at the company’s assembly plant in Fremont, CA. The Bay Area Air Quality Mgt. Dist. previously said Tesla has allowed “unabated emissions” in Fremont. CEO Elon Musk is telling investors these days to think of the company “almost entirely in terms of solving autonomy.”
Having known a few people in my teens and 20s who lived in their VW buses, I've always considered these to be a more practical vehicle than most sedans (and certainly compared to SUVs). And now they are going electric!
@arstechnica I don't know about US, but in EU we're more worried about apocalyptic climate change that is accelerated by people continuing to burn stuff (including, but not limited to, in internal combustion engine cars) than a few car manufacturers having a hard time because they doggedly stuck to designing and making more shitty petrol, diesel & hybrid cars.
Despite the rapid technology advances in #EVs, they still present safety challenges.
One of the inherent issues is the heaviness of EVs – meaning other vehicles bear the burden of absorbing more crash energy in collisions. This dilemma is central to the concept of “crash compatibility,” a well-established field of safety research.
Solutions include lightweight materials, more powerful sensing technologies and safety algorithms, improved seat belts and better airbags. https://theconversation.com/electric-vehicles-are-usually-safer-for-their-occupants-but-not-necessarily-for-everyone-else-223535
If you got upset at me for pointing out that more people died of Covid under Biden than Trump, in large part because Biden rolled back common sense restrictions that were in place under Trump...
Then you'll hate me pointing out that Trump introduced a 25% tariff on Chinese EVs, and Biden is upping that to 100% tariff.
non-existent labor protections, & no real labor unions in Chinese factories = cheap workforce.
worst sourcing standards for raw materials = using cheap minerals from regions with #humanrights & #environmental abuses (see recent Lead The Charge rankings)
Until we can call out #humanrights violations anywhere, I think we'll continue to fail to address either #climate or historical injustices. Giving one country a pass because they produce more #EVs or have more solar panels is merely kicking the can down the road.