EVs have a toxic supply chain to make the batteries. EVs are position car companies in a climate conscious world. Instead, we should work on public transportation
this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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Same with wind turbines. The amount of oil needed to create and lube them for their 20 year lifespan is absurdly terrible for the environment. The only actual answer is nuclear.
You can use soybean-based or canola-based oil for that.
Cargill, Shell, and GE Prolec make it for transformers.
I'd have to consult turbine manufacturers to see if entire gearboxes can be filled with it and still achieve the same performance, but there is contemporary evidence of using plant-based fluid alternatives to mineral oil.
Making the jump for turbines seems like a matter of political and/or corporate will
Recently in Australia supporting nuclear was considered right wing because leading up to election our most conservative party wanted to do it, while our less conservative party was talking about investing in solar/wind/etc. it became an either/or conversation by default.
I don't see how we can make progress when even just talking about energy is such a politically charged topic.
You should also note that most of the particulate emissions from cars are from tires shedding microplastics, and because EVs are heavier, their tires wear down faster.
Particulate emissions suck (especially like 6PPD for fish) but they are ultimately local pollutants, not global the way CO2 is. There are multiple variables to optimize for, and right now, EVs are better than gas vehicles.
The BETTER solution is obviously to get people out of personal vehicles as much as possible, and probably not enough, but there are bigger fish to fry. We have to do the most consequential things with the least cost, ASAP.
I did not note that because last I heard the EU was working on legislation to quantify tires and brake dust and I hadn’t heard anything about it since. I’m not sure if they decided that it was indeed something they’ve decided to regulate or not. I’ve since moved away from monitoring EU regulations and have been more focused on EPA/CARB.
At the very least I don’t know of any such quantifiable study and I’m hesitant to speak about things I don’t feel qualified to speak about.
FWIW, I’m not sure if tire wear counts as particulate emissions. Most of what I know of being measured is diluted exhaust, soot, particulate count in exhaust, and particulate mass in exhaust.
Quantifying tire wear microplastics seems rather hard to do in a laboratory setting. Your almost have to some sort of casing around the chassis dynamometer. Would that interfere with actually using the dynamometer? I don’t know. Maybe if you had a MFC to vacuum up the particulates. Alternatively, you can try to quantify tire wear separate from chassis testing but that would be outside the realm of what I am capable to speak about
This guy gets it! 😘 ❤️
I like to think "prepping for dummies" is about getting ready to deal with dumb people.
It is not an age thing. Every century has had people trying to make a difference. Including boomers.
Thank you.
Ageism doesn't help when there is a class war going on.
EV design right now is just about the worst thing if you want to survive an apocalypse. Those things are practically impossible to repair. Disposable cars that depreciate rapidly.
A post apocalyptic EV is gonna be some scrapped together dune buggy powered by lead acid batteries and a simple DC motor. It will be lucky to get 40 miles of range, rather than 400, but that’s okay because there won’t be any roads left.
Why lead acid batteries? Because you can rebuild them with minimal tools.
I'm Gen X. We couldn't get our voices heard. Some of us (generally, the bullies and the ones with the biggest voices who made the most noise and disturbance) fell for the bullshit. Dear all subsequent Gens, please get counted in every local, regional and national election.
Elections do not matter. Kill your masters.
There was a short while where technology was a positive force for change, and it felt like things were moving in generally the right direction, slowly as it were. I suppose it will cycle back around again, hopefully, if the people can get their voice back, but it's quite uncomfortable to say the least being in this sort of transition phase, where there are still parts of the world who live in tribes with little to no technology and parts that are giant sprawling high tech megalopolis. Those people probably have a lot to teach, that people have forgotten; at the very least, respect for the earth and all it's creatures and features. Anyways, good luck.