I have a paid off, very nice hybrid with only 21k miles on it. I don't need a new car.

Because it would be much worse for the environment to buy a new car than use the one I’ve been using. And the EV mining pollution. And they use electricity that is generated using fossil fuels. Not to mention the particulate matter from EV tires as they drive.

Because I only have one car and can afford one car, not two that I would need if one was an EV for going around town I’d still need an ICE car for road trips with the kids, which is also environmentally better than flying us all places.

Because Tesla, you know.
Because I don’t have 80k for Rivian.
I could go on and on.

OP, we cannot consume our way out of this problem anyway. We need to learn to use less across the board. Swapping in EVs does nothing.

Anonymous wrote:IEEE did a study on this a few years back. Because the batteries use "rare earth" minerals mined and processed in China - with the electric power largely coming from coal power plants - the lifecycle carbon footprint was actually higher than for a fuel efficient car.

Yeah I really wonder if all of the smug posters here really understand what goes into producing an electric car. Mining for the minerals can be incredibly environmentally destructive and dangerous for the workers. And it's only going to get worse as demand > supply. This isn't to say I don't think we need to bring emissions down- we absolutely do. I just wory we are traing one problem for another and that our earth is pretty much f-ed regardless.

Because cobalt mining is not exactly a good thing

When we had a days-long power outage in my area, I witnessed my neighbor attempt to use a gas generator to charge his Cybertruck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reason, coming back into town after a three day business trip and having my shiny new electric car not start in the garage of the airport at 9/10 ish in the evening. Yep, called airport emergency number for help and they towed my car to a charging station where I sat for hours behind others already in line waiting to charge my car. Problem was the weather took a deep cold dive while I was gone and the battery drained. Never again, and I mean never. I got rid of that thing as quick as I could, never again. Personal safety does not go hand in hand with the temperament of an electric car.

but why didn't it?

and how did you make it to the charger? you pushed it?

What the heck? Are you a bored troll? It says right in the post that she had it towed and that a cold snap drained her battery.

What kind of a cold snap drained a brand new EV battery dead? One in Siberia maybe?

And yes she had it towed to a charging station where there’s a loooong line of cars waiting to charge too. I doubt the tow truck waited with her.

This story is completely made up unless she left it at like 10% or left it running while she was gone. Most batteries (while car is in park) will only lose tops 5% in subzero temps per night. That's max.

Yeah I’m confused by this story. I’ve had an EV for nearly 4 years and have experienced many cold snaps— and have never experienced anything like that. Was the battery already super low before the trip??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IEEE did a study on this a few years back. Because the batteries use "rare earth" minerals mined and processed in China - with the electric power largely coming from coal power plants - the lifecycle carbon footprint was actually higher than for a fuel efficient car.

The EPA says the emissions from an EV are lower than a gas car long term, even when accounting for the battery mining and charging.

Given a choice between believing IeEE's scientific experts or believing the government, I will pick the scientific experts every time. IEEE is more reliable than EPA, but thank you for playing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reason, coming back into town after a three day business trip and having my shiny new electric car not start in the garage of the airport at 9/10 ish in the evening. Yep, called airport emergency number for help and they towed my car to a charging station where I sat for hours behind others already in line waiting to charge my car. Problem was the weather took a deep cold dive while I was gone and the battery drained. Never again, and I mean never. I got rid of that thing as quick as I could, never again. Personal safety does not go hand in hand with the temperament of an electric car.

but why didn't it?

and how did you make it to the charger? you pushed it?

What the heck? Are you a bored troll? It says right in the post that she had it towed and that a cold snap drained her battery.

What kind of a cold snap drained a brand new EV battery dead? One in Siberia maybe?

And yes she had it towed to a charging station where there’s a loooong line of cars waiting to charge too. I doubt the tow truck waited with her.

This story is completely made up unless she left it at like 10% or left it running while she was gone. Most batteries (while car is in park) will only lose tops 5% in subzero temps per night. That's max.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reason, coming back into town after a three day business trip and having my shiny new electric car not start in the garage of the airport at 9/10 ish in the evening. Yep, called airport emergency number for help and they towed my car to a charging station where I sat for hours behind others already in line waiting to charge my car. Problem was the weather took a deep cold dive while I was gone and the battery drained. Never again, and I mean never. I got rid of that thing as quick as I could, never again. Personal safety does not go hand in hand with the temperament of an electric car.

but why didn't it?

and how did you make it to the charger? you pushed it?

What the heck? Are you a bored troll? It says right in the post that she had it towed and that a cold snap drained her battery.

What kind of a cold snap drained a brand new EV battery dead? One in Siberia maybe?

And yes she had it towed to a charging station where there’s a loooong line of cars waiting to charge too. I doubt the tow truck waited with her.

I don't have to justify not having an electric car. No one has to justify not having spent 10s of thousands on a vehicle when most have only been on the market a few years. And as many posts here demonstrate, there are still many limitations to EVs, whether it's not being reliable under certain circumstances, having access to charging stations when traveling to visit family, or not being able to install a charging cable at home. No one has to justify not taking that on, especially when you have to pay so much for the privilege of dealing with it.

How about everyone justify each of their children and their environmental impact.

Please justify your precise amount of trash generated.

Justify every purchase you have ever made that wasn't strictly necessary to keep you alive. If shipped to your home, justify that shipping.

Justify living in a house with more than just a kitchen, small living space, and beds for each member of the family. Justify your yard.

Justify all of your plane travel for whatever reason.

Justify your heating and cooling usage, as well as your hot water usage.

Those are all adjustments we could all make that don't actually cost anything extra (most of them are actually cheaper than being more wasteful) and would have the same or larger benefit than buying an EV. Yet no one is starting threads demanding people justify their lifestyle when the average American lifestyle is actually hugely wasteful, requires tons of fossil fuels (not even in your own vehicle -- Amazon ordering alone results in a huge amount of fossil fuel use even if you don't have a car), results in enormous consumer waste and expanding landfills, etc.

If you have an EV, good for you. It is better than a gas powered vehicle. But having an EV doesn't magically make you more environmentally virtuous than other people. There are families driving gas vehicles but living in small homes or apartments, composting, and rarely buying new consumer goods. They likely have a smaller carbon footprint than your average Tesla owner, let's get real.

We are currently driving a 13 year old Kia Soul so make a guess why not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reason, coming back into town after a three day business trip and having my shiny new electric car not start in the garage of the airport at 9/10 ish in the evening. Yep, called airport emergency number for help and they towed my car to a charging station where I sat for hours behind others already in line waiting to charge my car. Problem was the weather took a deep cold dive while I was gone and the battery drained. Never again, and I mean never. I got rid of that thing as quick as I could, never again. Personal safety does not go hand in hand with the temperament of an electric car.

but why didn't it?

and how did you make it to the charger? you pushed it?

What the heck? Are you a bored troll? It says right in the post that she had it towed and that a cold snap drained her battery.

Anonymous wrote:My reason, coming back into town after a three day business trip and having my shiny new electric car not start in the garage of the airport at 9/10 ish in the evening. Yep, called airport emergency number for help and they towed my car to a charging station where I sat for hours behind others already in line waiting to charge my car. Problem was the weather took a deep cold dive while I was gone and the battery drained. Never again, and I mean never. I got rid of that thing as quick as I could, never again. Personal safety does not go hand in hand with the temperament of an electric car.

but why didn't it?

and how did you make it to the charger? you pushed it?

My reason, coming back into town after a three day business trip and having my shiny new electric car not start in the garage of the airport at 9/10 ish in the evening. Yep, called airport emergency number for help and they towed my car to a charging station where I sat for hours behind others already in line waiting to charge my car. Problem was the weather took a deep cold dive while I was gone and the battery drained. Never again, and I mean never. I got rid of that thing as quick as I could, never again. Personal safety does not go hand in hand with the temperament of an electric car.