Shouting about electric vehicles

Following a recent offhand reference to my car being plugged in, an acquaintance started IRL-reply-guying me about how he questions EVs because some percentage of the electric grid is still powered by fossil fuels.

“And what percentage of internal combustion engines are powered fossil fuels?” I asked.

He then switched gears and began lecturing me about battery fires and mineral mining and mass transit, eventually getting to the “EVs aren’t a panacea!” conclusion.

Yeah, I know. They’re not.

This kind of stuff is exhausting. No one is suggesting electric vehicles will solve all of our climate problems¹. I think pretty much any expert and even most casually interested amateurs are pretty aware that just switching to EVs is not going to fix everything, and also that they bring their own issues and challenges.

I’m all for increasing mass public transit options and making our towns and cities more walkable/bikeable. I’d also like to see a wider array of smaller, more affordable EVs available, AND better charging infrastructure, AND more focus on battery technology that is less ecologically intensive. I’d wager many people who own or want to buy an EV are of a similar mind. We also need to get to our jobs and get our kids to school, but trains and bike lanes aren’t going to get built overnight.

I guess I wonder what the people who seem to turn up any time this conversation is happening to yell about EVs not being a panacea think they are achieving.

Maybe I’m just overly sensitive and need to get over it, though. Reading back over this post, it does sound like a bit of a “But not all EV owners…” arguments, which does not feel great.

I don’t know.