Evs and "saving our environment" in Herald
According to a study of 7000 motorists in Europe reported in June last year, people with electric vehicles (EVs) drive more than those in petrol-driven vehicles. Another British study in October showed the same.
But the British study also found owners of hybrid cars were doing a whopping 57 per cent more driving than their petrol-propelled counterparts.
Both these studies overturn earlier suggestions that EV owners drive less. The trend seems to be that as electric vehicles become more popular, people are driving them more. This is bad news for road safety, traffic congestion and, counterintuitively, for climate change.
There are two obvious reasons for the trend. One is that battery range in EVs is growing fast: you can make longer trips more easily now.
The other is something economists call the Jevons paradox. This occurs when a thing becomes more efficient but the efficiency doesn't lead to savings, because it gets used more. Many owners of heat pumps know it well: your power bill hasn't gone down, but you've got a warmer house.
Carmakers are busy making their EVs cool so everyone will want one. It sounds like the right thing to do.
But the Jevons paradox is one reason EVs are not the solution that will save the planet or, for that matter, help much with anything else.
EV manufacture releases more greenhouse gases and other pollutants than petrol-vehicle manufacture, and their brakes and tyres cause emissions too. But the Climate Change Commission estimates that over the life of an EV, there's a 60 per cent reduction in emissions.
That's helpful, but it's not a silver bullet.
Currently in New Zealand, our largely renewable energy is topped up with dirty imported coal, mainly from Indonesia. As the number of EVs grows, so will the need for more renewable power, from wind and the sun. It's already happening, but slowly.
EVs also need cobalt, which mainly comes from mines in Congo controlled by China.
More than all this, EVs can't solve the transport emissions issue on their own. Paul Winton, from the 1Point5 Project and a member of the All Aboard Aotearoa coalition of climate-focused lobby groups, has calculated that if half our vehicle fleet was electric by 2030, Auckland would reduce emissions by 1588 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide. That's 44 per cent of the expected emissions level of 3580kt by 2030.
But it isn't big enough.
Perhaps the biggest problem of all is that EVs reinforce car dependency. Car makers know this; it's why they're so thrilled.
EVs will accelerate the trend, because their number grows
We already know what will happen if we try to accommodate this by building more roads, extra motorway lanes and more car parks. It will siphon resources from alternatives that could do some good.
We can't solve any of our traffic-related problems unless we reduce the number of cars on the roads.
Canadian urban planner Brent Toderian puts it like this: "Here's the blunt reality — reasonably sized electric vehicles need to be the future of cars, but they can't be the future of urban mobility. Fewer cars. Less driving. Better communities and cities. These are the four pillars of the real solution."
All Aboard Aotearoa has taken Auckland Council and Auckland Transport to court this week. They're arguing that the Regional Land Transport Plan adopted last year is unlawful because it will, at best, reduce emissions by only one per cent by 2031, compared to 2016 levels.
The risk is, we'll be told we've got the new technology so the problem is solved. It's simply not true.
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Have to agree. We need: A)Less people on the planet. A lot less and B: Real public transport, useful public transport.
Originally Posted by zqwerty
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