[HN Gopher] Study links adoption of EV with less air pollution a...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Study links adoption of EV with less air pollution and improved
       health
        
       Author : giuliomagnifico
       Score  : 46 points
       Date   : 2023-02-04 19:07 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (keck.usc.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (keck.usc.edu)
        
       | freitzkriesler wrote:
       | Right, and what happens when we include the pollution used to
       | make those lithium ion batteries?
       | 
       | Oh, we're just going to ignore this inconvenient truth because
       | the pollution and toxic lakes are somewhere in china and
       | Mongolia. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-
       | place-...
        
         | slater wrote:
         | Right, and what happens when we include the pollution used to
         | make the entirety of the petroleum processing industry?
         | 
         | Oh, we're just going to ignore this inconvenient truth.
        
           | freitzkriesler wrote:
           | Right and what happens when include the pollution for
           | disposing of those lithium ion batteries when they eventually
           | die?
           | 
           | Oh, we're just going to ignore this inconvenient truth.
           | 
           | But please, let's keep lying by omission.
        
             | dangrossman wrote:
             | EV batteries aren't disposed of, they're reused as
             | stationary storage, then recycled, with over 97% of the raw
             | materials recoverable to put into new batteries as of 2021.
             | Redwood Materials recycles over 60 tons of them per day,
             | and has another facility opening in 2023 that can handle an
             | additional 125,000 tons per year. The materials are too
             | valuable to throw out, so a market for reusing and
             | recycling them has existed as long as li-ion electric cars
             | have existed.
        
               | freitzkriesler3 wrote:
               | [dead]
        
             | slater wrote:
             | Right and what happens when we include the gas flaring that
             | happens in the production of gas?
             | 
             | Oh, we're just going to ignore this inconvenient truth.
        
         | tomtheelder wrote:
         | It's on a completely different order of magnitude. And
         | actually, yes, pollution far away from major population centers
         | is much better than pollution within cities- regardless of what
         | country it's in.
        
           | freitzkriesler wrote:
           | Right, so long as we out source the pollution somewhere else
           | where in the world it's OK.
        
             | nostromo123 wrote:
             | Well, as long as it's not our kids digging in mines for
             | lithium, it's OK...
        
               | rgmerk wrote:
               | The world's biggest lithium mines are in Australia, where
               | miners earn extremely good wages and safety standards are
               | at least as good as the US.
        
             | dangrossman wrote:
             | The US has just committed to billions of dollars per year
             | in incentives to bring that pollution to the US. Between
             | the IRA's 10-year expansion of incentives for buying cars
             | with US-manufactured batteries and US-mined minerals,
             | Section 45X, the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit,
             | is the reason billions of dollars of battery manufacturing
             | and associated supply chain investments on US soil were
             | announced in 2022.
        
         | hedora wrote:
         | People have run those numbers. Here is a calculator for CO2:
         | 
         | https://evtool.ucsusa.org/
         | 
         | Also, China will eventually improve their environmental
         | regulations, just like every developing economy before them.
        
         | ChemSpider wrote:
         | 1. The pollution caused by oil drilling/production is even
         | worse - and we (used to) even fight wars for oil.
         | 
         | 2. You forgot to mention that more than 50% of lithium comes
         | from Australia: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/chart-
         | countries-produ...
        
           | freitzkriesler3 wrote:
           | [dead]
        
         | pastage wrote:
         | Environmentalist everywhere have been fighting mining industry
         | for ever, often confused and co-opted by NIMBYs. Yes it is an
         | inconvenient truth that all consumption hurts us. A car is
         | still a car even if it is electric, we are of course better of
         | with no cars at all. Very few people are actually arguing that.
        
           | freitzkriesler2 wrote:
           | The most honest comment here.
           | 
           | But yes, EV lovers will not admit their biases. The only way
           | to save the environment is by REDUCING.
        
         | blamazon wrote:
         | Shall we also ignore the similar negative externalities of ICE
         | cars such as palladium/rhodium mining for catalytic converters?
        
           | freitzkriesler wrote:
           | Sure since we're both clearly lying by omission.
        
             | blamazon wrote:
             | I want to point out you started this quagmire by connecting
             | into a broader narrative. The linked article simply says
             | "we think localized emissions go down when EV adoption
             | rates go up in a particular area" which says nothing about
             | this larger discussion about the net social effects of EVs.
             | Personally I believe we can discuss this until the end of
             | time without a conclusive answer until someone has
             | completely documented and analyzed all the relevant supply
             | chains end to end for every new ICE car and every new EV
             | car.
        
               | freitzkriesler2 wrote:
               | I really don't have any qualms about posting unpopular
               | facts and truths.
               | 
               | Localized or not, we live in a globalized world and it's
               | a fact that lithium ion battery production is dangerous
               | and dirty work on par with the petroleum that it is
               | trying to eliminate. EV fanatics don't like hearing this,
               | but it is true.
        
               | rgmerk wrote:
               | The claim that lithium ion battery production is as bad
               | as petroleum production is ridiculous.
               | 
               | The scale of mining required to produce a lithium-ion
               | battery and the solar panels to charge it is far lower
               | than required to produce and refine the petroleum used
               | over the lifetime of a vehicle.
               | 
               | The other little secret about mining is that nasty as it
               | is, the impact of non-petroleum mining on the environment
               | is miniscule compared to farming, which is far more
               | damaging but has much better PR.
        
               | blamazon wrote:
               | Agree to disagree to agree. One thing that's particularly
               | dangerous and dirty right now is cobalt. (Used primarily
               | in rechargeable batteries, and airbags, jet engines, etc)
               | Unlike some other exotic materials, it's currently a
               | supply chain that cannot prove which materials were
               | obtained using modern techniques and heavy equipment, and
               | which ones were obtained by hand through brutalized labor
               | practices.
               | 
               | I caught an interview on NPR recently[1] with the author
               | of "Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our
               | Lives"
               | 
               | [1]: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01
               | /1152893...
        
       | nickysielicki wrote:
       | This makes sense but I don't put a ton of faith in the analysis.
       | EVs grew over the past few years, but Covid also cut down on a
       | lot of urban activity over the past 1000 days, so it's hard to
       | separate the two.
        
         | dangrossman wrote:
         | They compared the EV registration rates and asthma-related ER
         | visit rates by zip code. Presumably COVID and its related
         | effects happened pretty much everywhere, not only in zip codes
         | with more EVs.
        
       | amalgamated_inc wrote:
       | > That disparity points to an opportunity to restore
       | environmental justice in communities that are disproportionately
       | affected by pollution and related health problems.
       | 
       | > Past research has shown that underserved communities, such as
       | lower-income neighborhoods, tend to face worse pollution and
       | associated respiratory problems than more affluent areas.
       | 
       | > While climate change is a massive health threat
       | 
       | Would be a whole lot easier to take this more seriously if it
       | didn't have the commie agitprop soundbites all over it.
       | 
       | > ZEV adoption was significantly lower in zip codes with lower
       | levels of educational attainment.
       | 
       | Shocking! Poor people can't afford overpriced cars 3-10x the
       | price of what they're currently driving. This is why (you)
       | commies are the bad guys; being poor is unhealthy and you keep
       | 'em poor.
        
         | blamazon wrote:
         | Hello, real commies don't think cars should be required for
         | existence at all. Trains, trams, buses, cycling, walking are
         | the socialist methods of transport and are like 100-1000x more
         | affordable than any car to the poor.
         | 
         | Cars on the whole are generally an albatross around the neck of
         | the working class financially.
        
           | nostromo123 wrote:
           | Depends on your circumstances. I live in Central Europe, a
           | bit outside a major capital and commuting there for work.
           | This is a place with excellent public transport by any
           | measure (metro travels on time every 2-3 minutes during the
           | day, for instance).
           | 
           | Total commute time in one direction: train + metro + walking
           | 1.5h, car 0.5h.
           | 
           | At this point, even if public transport were offered to me
           | for free, I would not use it. 3h of commute per day is just
           | too much.
           | 
           | (Yeah, I could theoretically move closer to work... and what
           | do I do when the workplace changes? move again?)
        
             | katbyte wrote:
             | I'm curious, what's the main contributor to the transit
             | time? As you don't break down how long the
             | walking/metro/train each are
        
               | amalgamated_inc wrote:
               | Switching lines, waiting on connections, and
               | coordinating, of course.
               | 
               | This is true of all public transit systems, even the best
               | ones. Unless you live directly at the source station and
               | have a direct shot to your destination station, you're
               | going to waste a lot of time changing buses/trains and
               | waiting and coordinating.
               | 
               | And not everybody can live near every transit hub, not
               | even near _a_ transit hub, by definition.
               | 
               | Cars are point-to-point. The very best public transit can
               | do is match it in terms of pure speed.
               | 
               | Public transport has a much higher bandwidth at the
               | expense of individual travel time. It's a trade-off.
               | Naturally there's a limit to how many cars can dive at
               | any given time in any given city, but I'd definitely
               | expect the average public transit time to be 2-5x the
               | equivalent individual transportation (bicycle if
               | possible/car) transit time.
        
           | amalgamated_inc wrote:
           | Yes, of course. This faux environmentalism is just an excuse
           | to take people's freedoms of individual transportation away.
           | I am aware.
        
             | blamazon wrote:
             | My friend, I don't mean to offend, but these takes seem
             | unnecessarily hateful and indicative of a worldview where
             | people are "out to get you." I encourage you to think
             | collaboratively on these issues and perhaps travel to a
             | place where socialized transit and bicycle infrastructure
             | are the norm. It is a form of individual and financial
             | freedom that is difficult to appreciate until you don't
             | have a car in your life anymore.
        
               | ilostmyshoes wrote:
               | My personal experience tells me that reactionaries
               | literally _are_ scared. Scared of change and things they
               | don 't understand. Probably a controversial opinion but
               | oh well
        
               | amalgamated_inc wrote:
               | Of course, as they should be. The last Cultural
               | Revolution didn't go so well, remember?
        
               | blamazon wrote:
               | Some studies back this idea up with data, such as
               | "Conservatives Anticipate and Experience Stronger
               | Emotional Reactions to Negative Outcomes Samantha Joel et
               | al. J Pers. 2014 Feb." [1]
               | 
               | This is why it is more important than ever to be
               | empathetic to others - we live in a crazy ass world with
               | overwhelming amounts of both tragedy and beauty. The way
               | each one of us perceives that endlessly complex
               | environment is wholly unique, and it is the only reality
               | each of us has ever known.
               | 
               | [1]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23336710/
        
               | amalgamated_inc wrote:
               | I know these places. They are poorer and have less
               | freedom and I'm not interested.
        
       | thinkingkong wrote:
       | Whenever I spend time abroad I think about the EVs back home and
       | wonder how the hell this will ever see widespread adoption. The
       | sheer number of motorcycles, cars, people, lack of infrastructure
       | for batteries and charging systems is totally overwhelming. There
       | doesnt seem any realistic way for these tools to be adopted by
       | the majority of the global population. It doesnt make it useless.
       | But I just cant see a realistic path forward to eletrification of
       | transportation on a global scale.
        
         | ghfjvfduk wrote:
         | And yet gasoline cars were adopted despite no gas pumps or wide
         | spread infrastructure.
        
         | seanmcdirmid wrote:
         | Most places have electricity, and electric bikes are already
         | very common in Asia. It seems like a lot easier problem than
         | even just building enough gas stations to keep up with growing
         | developing worlds demand.
        
         | kamranjon wrote:
         | Fwiw the U.S. emits the largest volume of CO2 emissions from
         | road transportation worldwide, followed by China. So I think if
         | we can start there, it'd be a huge improvement.
        
       | funstuff007 wrote:
       | I'm not sure I buy this. Isn't most of the pollution generated by
       | a small % of vehicles. e.g. diesel trucks and maga pickups tuned
       | to burn oil. In short, all the sedans on the road can be
       | electric, but the pollution levels are largely unchnaged.
       | 
       | asthma rates for residents of this building would not be affected
       | until all trucks and buses went electric.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_Apartments
        
         | Symbiote wrote:
         | Changing that requires political will.
         | 
         | In inner London, driving a car from before roughly 2005 incurs
         | a charge of PS12.50 per day.
         | 
         | Driving a heavy truck or large bus from before roughly 2014
         | anywhere in London incurs a charge of PS100 per day, or
         | PS300/day if it's even older.
         | 
         | Of the public buses, "There are 3,854 hybrid buses, 785 battery
         | electric buses, and 22 hydrogen fuel cell buses operating in
         | London, as of March 2022, out of a total bus fleet of 8,795 -
         | this is around 53% of the bus fleet".
         | 
         | New York seems to be aiming for something similar for buses
         | (not trucks), but is about 5 years behind.
         | 
         | ("The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) operates the
         | world's largest fleet of buses -- 4,373 public buses" -- well,
         | maybe the largest in the world in America. I'll leave it to a
         | New Yorker to find figures, I don't know enough about how NYC
         | transport is structured.)
        
       | blamazon wrote:
       | In other news: water linked to wetness. EVs are so much more
       | pleasant to be around for both acoustic and particulate
       | emissions. Anyone who's dined outdoors next to a busy car
       | intersection in an ICE-centric location knows this.
       | 
       | And it is easily 10x worse to me in places that have a lax
       | approach to auto emissions and safety. Where I live now there are
       | zero safety or emissions inspections for auto vehicles (zero!)
       | and it feels like every tenth car going by on the major roadways
       | has an absurdly loud modified or damaged exhaust system. I yearn
       | for the day I can eat outside at the restaurants in my
       | neighborhood without that disturbance. At the current rate of
       | social change in this US state I will probably be very old, or
       | dead before then.
        
         | pengaru wrote:
         | > And it is easily 10x worse to me in places that have a lax
         | approach to auto emissions and safety.
         | 
         | What surprised me was how noticeable the difference in
         | emissions were even ICE vs. ICE, just getting around by bicycle
         | all summer visiting family in Illinois vs. what I was breathing
         | riding in traffic once back in California. IL exhaust is
         | noxious in comparison.
         | 
         | Then when Russia invaded Ukraine I learned CA fuel is an
         | entirely different blend from the rest of the nation targeting
         | better emissions with lower sulfur and particulates. So
         | apparently CARB and all those frequent smog tests and spending
         | more on gas actually makes a QoL difference, surprise!
         | 
         | I fully expect many confirmations of auto emissions-caused
         | disease/death once the nation pivots to electric. It can't
         | happen soon enough. I don't even care if the electricity is
         | produced via fossil fuels away from where people live. Having
         | such large numbers of ICEs constantly spewing exhaust adjacent
         | to where we breathe is categorically DUMB. And we sure have far
         | more ability to clean the exhaust in a large-scale immobile
         | power plant installation than little portable ad-hoc
         | propulsion-as-a-30%-efficient-byproduct rube goldberg machines.
        
           | tablespoon wrote:
           | > Then when Russia invaded Ukraine I learned CA fuel is an
           | entirely different blend from the rest of the nation
           | targeting better emissions with lower sulfur and
           | particulates. So apparently CARB and all those frequent smog
           | tests and spending more on gas actually makes a QoL
           | difference, surprise!
           | 
           | I recall reading somewhere that California's geography means
           | they have to be super-diligent about emissions or their major
           | cities will have a severe smog problems. I think it was
           | something about mountains trapping the emissions and keeping
           | them concentrated.
        
             | blamazon wrote:
             | Los Angeles in particular is really bad. You've got like 20
             | million people (a number higher than the individual
             | populations of 45 US states!) all living in flat area
             | mostly hemmed on 3 sides by mountains and on the fourth
             | side by the ocean. Winds tend to blow in from the ocean,
             | and don't tend to pass over the mountains. This tends to
             | trap a pocket of air over the city.
             | 
             | This wouldn't be so bad if car usage wasn't so necessary to
             | get around there, however car ownership in the LA metro is
             | something like 80-90 percent, with around 1.6 cars per
             | household on average. (Compare to about 32% and 0.45 per
             | household in Tokyo, a very similar place in terms of
             | geography and population) EVs represent about 1% of those
             | cars, so, conservatively you've got about 15 million cars
             | filling up that one air pocket overhead with combustion
             | byproducts.
             | 
             | It gets worse! Traffic in Los Angeles is so bad that a lot
             | of those cars are in stop and go hours-long commutes every
             | day which is a particularly inefficient regime for fuel use
             | and emissions. On top of that this bad traffic has an
             | interesting side effect: over half of all car trips in Los
             | Angeles are less than 3 miles. This is also bad for
             | emissions because the catalytic converter may not get to
             | heat up and achieve full efficiency.
        
         | StreamBright wrote:
         | You are assuming that every city allows cars into dining areas.
         | There are many examples in Europe where this is not the case.
         | The whole electric vs combustion car argument is predicated on
         | the fact that we need cars in inner cities at all.
        
           | blamazon wrote:
           | Mmmmm, I don't think I assumed that. I'm pretty sure I
           | described my current scenario, and the scenarios of others
           | who live in similar places. I know how loathsome this
           | scenario is because I have lived and traveled in those places
           | in Europe you mention.
           | 
           | The sad reality is that cars are so thoroughly stuck into the
           | urban areas in so many places and it will take longer than my
           | lifespan to unring that bell here in America and fix mobility
           | in urban centers. However, we can potentially unring some
           | smaller bells a hell of a lot sooner with EVs. It's a really
           | valuable transitional tech in that regard, in my eyes. I
           | don't think ICE will ever truly go away, due to the huge
           | power density of the fuel. But, if we just replace say, half
           | of the passenger fleet within say, 10-100 miles of american
           | cities with EVs as they age out by like 2035, life will be
           | much better here from that point until I die. Of course if we
           | can increase the portion of those cars that age out and are
           | not replaced, especially in a 1 mile radius of the city
           | center, that's a much larger win than swapping an ICE SUV for
           | an EV SUV.
        
         | mark-ruwt wrote:
         | An Urbanist credo: Cities aren't loud. ICE cars are.
        
           | amalgamated_inc wrote:
           | False; most modern cars aren't very loud. At city speeds, the
           | loudest part is the tire noise. At highway speeds, the wind
           | noise. You only really hear the engine in ICE cars under
           | heavy acceleration or if the car is designed to be loud (e.g.
           | a sports car).
        
             | derefr wrote:
             | I'm sitting beside a very, very loud street as I type this.
             | My apartment faces onto a four-lane stroad, that climbs up
             | a hill right in front of my building.
             | 
             | Cars have to throttle up to climb hills. This is also "city
             | driving." People seem to forget that many cities are not
             | flat, but instead are quite hilly, or even mountainous
             | (when a city is built a narrow valley, getting to most
             | places often involves going up or down the sides of the
             | valley.)
             | 
             | Also, it's not just cars. Frequently, semi trucks go by my
             | apartment, hissing and wheezing their pneumatic brakes as
             | they recover them going up the hill, or expend them going
             | down the hill. And this isn't even an arterial road in my
             | city!
             | 
             | And then there are the local motorcycle clubs that use this
             | stroad to caravan together to places...
        
             | dangrossman wrote:
             | I've certainly heard modern ICE cars where the engine noise
             | was minimal. At the same time, I can scarcely recall
             | sitting in a drive-through fast food line with my window
             | open to order and NOT being annoyed at the level of engine
             | noise from other cars making it harder to hear and be heard
             | at the speaker. It's definitely not tire or wind noise when
             | we're all just idling in line.
        
               | amalgamated_inc wrote:
               | Yea, that's true. But I can walk around plenty of cities
               | with cars driving within feet of me and not hear much
               | noise besides the road noise at all. I suppose the design
               | of the city makes a difference, e.g. are there sound-
               | reflecting bare concrete walls everywhere (like many
               | drive throughs).
        
             | karmelapple wrote:
             | At the 10:15 mark in this video, different types of
             | vehicles are measured for noise output.
             | 
             | It would be pretty amazing if we could get around on
             | e-bikes a lot more than we could today. Quiet, easy to
             | ride... but in places that are not hospitable to bike
             | riders, less safe than a car, which is likely why they
             | won't be adopted en masse.
             | 
             | https://youtu.be/CTV-wwszGw8
        
             | micromacrofoot wrote:
             | Even ignoring the sound, which is definitely louder than an
             | outdoor speaking voice, I can _feel_ my neighbor start his
             | truck every day, it's completely stock and was made ~2015.
             | Cars are loud as hell, and most new cars sold in the US are
             | trucks.
        
               | amalgamated_inc wrote:
               | > most new cars sold in the US are trucks
               | 
               | source?
        
               | amanaplanacanal wrote:
               | Over 80% are now trucks and SUVs apparently.
        
               | amalgamated_inc wrote:
               | Yes, like that monstrously loud Tesla Model Y!
        
         | nickysielicki wrote:
         | The fundamental problem is that people conflate air quality and
         | carbon emissions. It's two separate problems with two separate
         | solutions.
         | 
         | Diesel emissions cause cancer, but burning those emissions off
         | takes additional energy. If you have a semi-truck without a
         | diesel particulate filter going down I94 in rural North Dakota,
         | getting 15-20% better fuel economy than if it had one, there's
         | an argument to be made that this is a net positive for the
         | planet overall. Nobody is getting cancer from the long-haul
         | semi trucks that spend most of their time on the interstate,
         | and the reduced consumption is a better deal for the planet.
         | Even with the NOX. (Citation needed).
         | 
         | Likewise, a semi truck that exists doing short runs in urban
         | Illinois, sitting next to a coffee shop waiting for his
         | trailer, probably should have a DPF.
         | 
         | The main problem I have with EVs is that we're forgetting
         | reduce-reuse-recycle. A 2005 Corolla is safe, it's production
         | emissions are already accounted for, and gets decent fuel
         | economy even by modern standards. The correct choice for
         | someone that cares about the planet isn't to buy a luxury EV
         | (and they're all luxury cars), it's to live a simple life and
         | to make the least consumptive choice you can. There's a total
         | lack of nuance when it comes to climate change.
        
           | dangrossman wrote:
           | Is anyone advocating for nation-scale forced replacement of
           | 2005 Corollas with EVs? Most of what I see are pushes,
           | starting in the 2030s, to limit the sale of new gas/diesel
           | cars, not to force anyone to replace one they already have.
           | The gas/diesel cars will continue to be used until they reach
           | their end of life, which is typically once they hit the point
           | that they cost more to repair than they're worth.
        
             | Symbiote wrote:
             | Some European cities have announced plans for this.
             | 
             | Paris and Amsterdam have announced that from 2030 onwards,
             | only zero-emission vehicles will be allowed to drive in
             | those cities. Depending on your definition, Paris is a
             | nation-scale settlement. (The population is larger than
             | many countries.)
             | 
             | Petrol/diesel vehicles will be traded away from such cities
             | as time goes by, and their resale value will decrease. This
             | is already happening for the largest goods vehicles and
             | buses in similar European cities. Mostly, older large
             | diesel vehicles have been banned from large cities, but
             | this gradually extends to all large diesel vehicles, then
             | diesel vans, etc.
             | 
             | https://urbanaccessregulations.eu/ lists many of these
             | restrictions, but it's not the easiest site to navigate.
        
           | VBprogrammer wrote:
           | The average age of a car at the time it is given up for scrap
           | in the UK is just shy of 14 years. Cars exist in a paradox
           | where they wear out and become uneconomical to maintain; the
           | counter point being enthusiasts who can keep cars on the road
           | practically forever. Doing this relies on a steady stream of
           | parts from the same model being scrapped and sold for parts,
           | limited exposure to the elements (slowing the rate of decay)
           | and eventually expensive bespoke replacements.
        
           | jjtheblunt wrote:
           | > Nobody is getting cancer from the long-haul semi trucks
           | that spend most of their time on the interstate
           | 
           | What about the drivers in those trucks and traffic? (I don't
           | know how to find the data.)
        
           | derefr wrote:
           | > The correct choice for someone that cares about the planet
           | isn't to buy a luxury EV (and they're all luxury cars), it's
           | to live a simple life and to make the least consumptive
           | choice you can.
           | 
           | Okay, but why focus on individual choice when it comes to
           | climate policy? That's the same myopic "fix the visible
           | symptoms" thinking that causes voters to demand offices
           | enforce recycling policies on employees, but then does
           | nothing to push for preventing those same companies from
           | dumping 10000x the mass of industrial waste into the nearest
           | river.
           | 
           | Think like the civil engineer who must design the next pre-
           | fab pre-densified /r/UrbanHell development to sit beside an
           | existing factory town somewhere in rapidly-urbanizing China.
           | What type of cars do you want that engineer to _design their
           | city to accommodate_? What policies, enacted by _other
           | countries_ , would influence their choice?
           | 
           | The point of global climate policy, is to influence the
           | choices that _those_ people make -- choices which entirely
           | swamp out (by five or more orders of magnitude) any choice
           | you as an individual commuter will ever make.
        
         | melling wrote:
         | Strange, only 8 days ago I was told this on HN
         | 
         | "Most emissions from modern vehicles these days comes from
         | things like tire dust rather than tailpipe. What would be best
         | for local street level pollution would probably be something
         | like a lightweight rickshaw over a multiton EV."
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34540177
        
           | Xylakant wrote:
           | There's nothing strange about it. EVs are better than IC cars
           | but still not good on all metrics.
        
           | blamazon wrote:
           | That is not a discordant take. Pedestrians and cyclists are
           | obviously the most pleasant transportation option to be
           | around in an urban space acoustics/particulates emissions
           | wise.
           | 
           | Unfortunately, some places have gone all-in on cars and it is
           | literally impossible to live a full life without using one.
           | This is where EVs slot in nicely. Further, EVs that fit into
           | the micromobility space are an excellent option for many
           | places-- e-bikes, scooters, Renault Twizy, etc. (Which aligns
           | with what you were told above)
        
           | hedora wrote:
           | That's only true for _particulate_ emissions.
           | 
           | ICE cars produce much nastier stuff than particulates, and
           | EVs eliminate those classes of pollutants.
           | 
           | On the particulate front: EV's greatly reduce brake dust, but
           | increase tire wear. The market will partially address the
           | latter.
           | 
           | Tire wear on my EV costs $0.15 per mile, and I'll certainly
           | be taking that into account when I buy my next car!
        
             | nickysielicki wrote:
             | That can't possibly be true. A new set of all season tires
             | is like $2000. You are going through a set of 4 tires every
             | 13k miles?
        
               | blamazon wrote:
               | $2000 for a set of all seasons? I thought I was spending
               | a lot of money when I dropped $1100 on a new set for my
               | Model X. That works out to about $0.024 per mile for me
               | if they last as long as the last set of the same make and
               | model. (About 48k)
               | 
               | So, maybe that poster meant $0.015 per mile, not $0.15?
        
               | nickysielicki wrote:
               | CrossClimate2s or don't even bother. ;)
               | 
               | https://youtu.be/PT2odY3C6Og
        
               | piperswe wrote:
               | What tire sizes are you buying? My CrossClimate2s were
               | less than $1k for a set of 4
        
             | dangrossman wrote:
             | The tires on my last EV needed replacing at about 25K
             | miles, and those were the OEM tires which tend to wear out
             | quicker than retail tires. I think I spent about $700
             | replacing all four. That's about 3 cents per mile. If the
             | replacements lasted their 70K mile warranty, that'd be only
             | a penny per mile.
        
         | freezedryCS wrote:
         | I cackled at water is linked to wetness
        
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