this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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Combustion engines aren't more eco friendly than BEVs. Not by themselves and not in plug in hybrids. We need to stop burning fossil fuels and Musk being a jerk doesn't change that. The weight of a car doesn't mean it's per se more wasteful, especially if you're wilfully ignoring the "weight" of the burned gas for combustion engines over their lifetime.
Should we have more smaller electric cars? Sure. I'm from Europe and there are several smaller models with smaller batteries and slower charging speeds to choose from on our market. I guess the US focusing on larger, more expensive cars is not an issue of their propulsion but more an issue of the market over there as it's pretty much the same with the combustion cars. That, too, doesn't change the core issue that we need to stop burning oil and we need to do that fast and giving petrol burners a tiny battery that lets them feel good for the first ten miles won't be enough.
"But Asetru, there aren't enough batteries in the world and for the amount of batteries in a long range bev you could have five plug in hybrids on the road which would reduce the overall emissions much more than having a single bev and four new combustion engines." Yeah, no, that's not how markets work. If the car manufacturers want more batteries, the supply chains will adjust accordingly. We're already past the point where electric car manufacturers couldn't keep up with demand so this whole argument just doesn't hold up anymore.
Sure, that’s all correct in theory.
In practice, you could make sub-3000lb EV with a backup generator for less than a 4000lb one with decent range, with less material, which is a massive part of the carbon cost. I’m not talking tiny battery ICE cars, I'm talking like 50-100 mile EVs with a mostly unused generator for beyond that.
It would use far less energy overall. It would burn what tiny bit of gas it uses on longer trips with extreme efficiency. It would charge easier, because it doesn’t need as much energy to haul the massive battery around.
Pure EVs will be better in time, but you ignoring the big carbon, and financial, cost of hauling huge batteries around… and as you said, Americans aren’t keen on small, short range EVs.
If you're saying the generator remains mostly unused you could just leave it out altogether, sell the car even cheaper and just let people rent cars with longer ranges for their longer trips once or twice a year. A range extender doesn't make sense if it's "mostly unused". It only makes sense if it's used. And if it's used, it emits.
You can't base your whole argument on just using diminishing words like "tiny" for your gas engines and that way suggest that they're better for the environment. They. Are. Not.
Battery electric vehicles won't "be better in time", they're better right now. Don't buy into the fossil fuel industry's propaganda.