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.

  • Zaderade@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Please let me know how that goes for you and when I can purchase one that allows me to travel 500 kilometres in -25°C without disabling the vehicle mid trip in that mentioned temperature.

    • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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      3 hours ago

      You mean for your highly specialized need that the majority of potential EV drivers currently turned off by the step costs don’t need? Sure, let me just make a note, since the solution is scalable, even working in the energy demand of a heater.

      • Zaderade@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Ah yes, I am the only person on the planet who has a need to travel occasionally to a larger city during a normal winter. Got it!

        • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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          2 hours ago

          Nice straw man, and a powerfully ignorant one too, given how many EVs it would ignore the existence of simply because they would not fulfill your criteria.

          Oh, and I was kidding, no way in hell would I ever give such an antagonist such a leg up, pearls before swine and all, you’ve made your choice and the industry is quite happy to cater to it.