Electric Vehicles

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Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.

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Another way electric cars clean the air: study says brake dust reduced by 83% (electrek.co)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

EVs are generally heavier, meaning more tire wear, so I’m skeptical that the reduction is all that meaningful.

Yeah this was my first thought as well. In the balance, I have no doubt that EVs are better for the environment than ICEVs, but when we're nitpicking about particulates coming out of wear and tear, the weight issue has got to play into that.

In North America, people tend to drive automobiles that are way bigger than they need to be. I have read that this is in part due to auto dealers enjoying larger margins on big vehicles and encouraging this on their clientele. But EVs are different. Bigger means more batteries means more expensive to manufacture. So the sweet spot in terms of profit margins may be something smaller? But whether this will translate into fewer SUVs and pickups on the road I don't know.

Wish car manufacturers never bought up the streetcars and trolleys, they effectively killed public transit in the US pretty early on.

At least it seems light rail is having a moment. I grew up in Toronto where they never did give up on streetcars, though there was a close call (in the 80s I think it was) when the auto lobby tried to have them removed. Fortunately, the mayor at the time was a huge fan. And now it seems the street cars have been upgraded to 3-car light rail.

And LRTs seem to be popping up all over the US too. Do you know the way to San Jose? It's light rail. That system's been around forever, but I was surprised on my last visit to Phoenix to see an LRT whiz by. That's about as car-centric a city as I could possibly imagine.