Everyone knows that electric vehicles are supposed to be better for the planet than gas cars. That’s the driving reason behind a global effort to transition toward batteries.
But what about the harms caused by mining for battery minerals? And coal-fired power plants for the electricity to charge the cars? And battery waste? Is it really true that EVs are better?
The answer is yes. But Americans are growing less convinced.
The net benefits of EVs have been frequently fact-checked, including by NPR. "No technology is perfect, but the electric vehicles are going to offer a significant benefit as compared to the internal combustion engine vehicles," Jessika Trancik, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told NPR this spring.
It’s important to ask these questions about EVs’ hidden costs, Trancik says. But they have been answered “exhaustively” — her word — and a widerange of organizations have confirmed that EVs still beat gas.
I believe it, but I don’t give a shit. I buy a car/truck because of how capable it is, and how easy repairs are to do myself, not because of how many smug Californian’s circlejerk over it.
Having just pulled repaired and put an engine back in one of my cars. No ICE cars are much harder to repair. Range will probably be an issue for a while. What I’m really excited for is hybrid light duty vehicles like a 1 ton hybrid would be great.