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Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

keck.usc.edu

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Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#351

Post by Tade0 »

dijit wrote: post #256

The real scandal isn’t just battery degradation… it’s that manufacturers have zero incentive to solve it. Your car becoming worthless after a decade suits them down to the ground. Battery swapping changes the game entirely. Imagine a national network of exchange stations (co-located with existing petrol infrastructure, you can use the overhead canopy for solar). Standard pack sizes scaled by vehicle class: compact ca…

> it’s that manufacturers have zero incentive to solve it. Your car becoming worthless after a decade suits them down to the ground.

They've been aiming for the same or worse in regular cars for over a decade now.

That being said, there is an incentive for EVs: competition from China:

https://www.electrive.com/2026/01/19/byd-extends-battery-war...

Very much like when Japanese cars first got a foothold in the US.

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#352

Post by AdamN »

ilogik wrote: post #243
jbm wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will be met with consternation, not appreciation. The people who comment about brake dust in EV topics are the people who complain about birds when talking about windmills. We know it is disingenuous because no one cares about this when discussing overweight trucks and SUVs. Good news about a reduction in pollution from EVs? Can't have that. It's like the "At what price" meme around headlines about China. Going…

Isn't brake pollution a lot less with EVs?

The theory is that they're heavier so more brake dust ... but that is offset to a degree by regen braking (which hybrids have too). It's a silly argument though. Brake dust is definitely bad but the idea of keeping ICE cars to minimize brake dust doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#353

Post by Rygian »

margalabargala wrote: post #174
conk wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Braking from regen or braking from a brake pad has the same net impact on tire wear. EVs can coast too and don’t apply full regen the moment you apply brakes. Some even have brake coach alerts to get you to gradually apply the brakes to maximize energy return.

> EVs can coast too EVs could coast if a manufacturer chose to make one that allowed that without shifting into neutral. In practice, when letting off the accelerator, existing EVs will instead regen brake.

People driving an EV learn, in a matter of minutes, to coast by just applying the right amount of pressure on the "gas" pedal.

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#354

Post by Rygian »

digiown wrote: post #109
didip wrote: post #73

Anyone can argue ICE vs EV all night long but there's only 1 metric I care about, in favor of EV: When I am going to take my son to school, he doesn't have to smell the gas and the fumes from the exhaust in the garage.

Most of the exhaust fumes your son smells near school is going to come from other people's cars though.

Very true, to the point that I am considering asking the city council to forbid ICE in a 1-km radius around places where children regularly use the sidewalks.

Even if the idea doesn't outright gain traction, enough insistence will shift the overton window.

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#355

Post by luckys »

mrpopo wrote: post #344
luckys wrote: post #339

Because this is HN, (in Allo Allo's Michelle Dubois voice...) "I shall say this only wonce": If you're curious, have a look at Earth's historical temperature and co2 data going back millions of years. What you'll notice is that there's always been oscillations, like a more or less predictable wave. Human activity is polluting the Earth, yes, but this fixation on co2 and other gases (cow farts, really?) is unhealthy t…

> There's certainly a lot to be said for humans needing to take better care of the planet. Co2 just gets a little too much attention for my taste. GHG are a matter of life or death for hundreds of millions living in poverty in coastal areas or living from their own agriculture. Of course you live in a 1st world country and it likely won't kill you, just cost you tons of money It's not about "take better care of the p…

>GHG are a matter of life or death

That's what I hear from mainstream media all the time. Do you have some information or argument that will help me see things differently?

>Of course you live in a 1st world country and it likely won't kill you, just cost you tons of money

A little presumptuous to assume my living conditions

>It's not about "take better care of the planet", whatever you think that means

Now that's just snarky and done in bad faith. If I didn't care would I have posted it, already antecipating the downvotes?

We humans got where we are much due to technology, but we have to start thinking seriously where we go from here or there won't be land or water (or air?) that isn't polluted by something the planet is not well equiped to process. Have you read on the kind of places that microplastics have been found already? In the human body?

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#356

Post by Rygian »

matt3210 wrote: post #330

I want and EV but I don't have a charger and I cant have a charger since I live in an apartment.

If you park in the street, and there are public chargers in a 1-km radius around your apartment, you can probably make it by "topping-up" every two or three days on a public charger.

Unless you spend upwards of 40% of your battery daily, you'll be good.

If you own a parking spot in your apartment complex, and depending on your jurisdiction, you can install your own charger.

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#357

Post by [deleted] »

londons_explore wrote: post #253
m463 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of smells.... One good thing about driving an EV is that weird oil or hot coolant smells are from someone else's car (and not a problem with your car) (although yes technically many EVs have coolant loops)

As the fleet of EV's age, I'm sure we'll see equivalents... "The high voltage wires were just dragging on the street sparking, presumably with all the safety features disabled" "They were driving with a 10 gallon coolant tank on the roof, presumably because the coolant loop had a big leak and needed continuous topping up".

[deleted]

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#358

Post by gruturo »

davidw wrote: post #197
chupasaurus wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study is about NOx levels which have nothing to do with tires or brakes.

Ok, but tire pollution is still a problem: https://grist.org/transportation/electric-vehicles-are-a-cli... https://caltrout.org/news/did-you-know-your-cars-tires-could...

True. But there are 2 ways to read this:

1: Yes, let's stick with ICE cars and die of preventable illnesses because EVs are only a massive improvement, rather than absolute perfection

2: Hey let's take this massive improvement and enjoy enormously cleaner air

I meet way too many people from group 1 unfortunately.

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#359

Post by tpm »

spwa4 wrote: post #321
yen223 wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do both! Better trains and more EVs replacing gas cars can be done simultaneously!

You forget the most important aspect of policy: it can't cost a single dime, and everyone must lie about that. Read the first sentence of the article: "When California neighborhoods increased their number of zero-emissions vehicles" Obviously neighborhoods/cities/states didn't increase anything. It was just rich people living there buying fancy cars. Of course, this needs to be described as a great accomplishment of…

> obvious solution

Shouldn't the obvious solution be based on observable reality? Which is that there is no technology in sight that will make EVs cheaper to build than ICEs. Otherwise you are praying for a miracle, and that's not a sound policy.

Re: Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study

#360

Post by luckys »

raducu wrote: post #341
luckys wrote: post #339

Because this is HN, (in Allo Allo's Michelle Dubois voice...) "I shall say this only wonce": If you're curious, have a look at Earth's historical temperature and co2 data going back millions of years. What you'll notice is that there's always been oscillations, like a more or less predictable wave. Human activity is polluting the Earth, yes, but this fixation on co2 and other gases (cow farts, really?) is unhealthy t…

> notice is that there's always been oscillations There's always been oscilations, true, but the rate o change and trend on those oscilations is the real issue.

Happy to be shown where I can learn more about this different rate of change and trend which sets our current climate change apart from the rest of Earth's history.
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