Adoption of EVs tied to real-world reductions in air pollution: study • Hacker News Board

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

#41

Post by stevenjgarner » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:02 AM UTC

ares623 wrote: post #4

princevegeta89 wrote: post #3

No surprises. No matter how we look at it, EVs are much friendlier and safer to the environment. Some people argue the source of electricty can be contested against because that involves fossil fuel burning again, but in today's world we are rapidly moving away from it and towards nuclear/hydel/wind methods for generating power. I hope ICE cars completely become a thing of the past in the next couple of decades to co…

I just hope "dumb" EV's become a thing soon. I cannot and will not own a smart car any more I want to own a smart TV or smart fridge or smart toaster.

Why? Are you worried from a liberty/privacy standpoint? "Smart" EV's are demonstrated to be significantly safer than "dumb" EVs. Waymo’s 2025/2026 data shows an 80–90% reduction in injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers in the same cities. [1, 2, 3, 4]

[1] https://www.reinsurancene.ws/waymo-shows-90-fewer-claims-tha...

[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11305169/

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39485678/

[4] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Comparison-of-Swiss-Re-h...

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

#42

Post by MBCook » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:02 AM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #33

tonymet wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tragically, because of efficiency standards, modern engines are known to burn oil . Otherwise you may be smelling cars who have had the cats stolen.

A lot of old cars also since new cars are so expensive.

I think expense is basically the problem.

Cost to replace the catalytic converter, cost for new exhaust pipes, cost to diagnose ignition timing problems. Whatever.

If the car drives and you don’t have the money I can completely understand why someone wouldn’t get the problem fixed. Even if it means they’re burning a 1/3 of their fuel, that’s still less in the short term than the $1500 it may cost to fix it.

It’s insanely rare I get the sense that the person is running really dirty on purpose.

I don’t know what a realistic fairway to fix it is. They’re probably isn’t one. I don’t think fines would work, it would probably just make things worse. Seems like the kind of thing where a little government group to find the worst 0.1% of cars on the road and just get them back to reasonable levels would be a huge help.

But that’s not how we do things.

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

#43

Post by Der_Einzige » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:04 AM UTC

It also causes roads to be damaged/destroyed FAR faster due to the vehicales on average weighing significantly more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law

It also simply moves the pollution to places like Africa where the extremely dirty lithium mining is externalized away from wealthy westerners.

Environmental externalization.

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

#44

Post by princevegeta89 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:04 AM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #35

tshaddox wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are EVs more “smart” than comparably priced ICE vehicles?

Not really, they are just newer than the average ICE car. Parent wants an EV from the early 2000s or the 1990s.

Depends. They get a virtually continual supply of standby power that can last for months if left untouched. So from a technology standpoint that enables them to do many things - from being connected to the network, aware of their location on the map, recording camera footage and other remote capabilities. ICE cars do have some of these but the huge battery packs on EVs make these very feasible.

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

#45

Post by MBCook » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:04 AM UTC

tonymet wrote: post #32

MBCook wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of ICE cars I get stuck behind from time to time that just REEK is amazing. I’m in a decently well off area too. Some putting off soot clouds, white smoke, nothing visible but clearly not doing complete combustion. Sometimes I wonder if half the cylinders are even working. I’ve heard one car like that is the equivalent of a surprisingly large number of modern ICE cars is in good shape. I love EVs. I’ve had…

tragically, because of efficiency standards, modern engines are known to burn oil . Otherwise you may be smelling cars who have had the cats stolen.

Stolen cars, exhaust leaks before the cat, incomplete combustion so bad the cat can’t cover it up. I assume it’s stuff like that.

It’s not whatever tiny bit of oil gets burned in a healthy engine.

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

#46

Post by davidw » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:05 AM UTC

Tires and brakes still contribute to a lot of particulate matter pollution even from EV's, but they're at least a step up. The best EV's are still eBikes though.

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

#47

Post by Der_Einzige » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:05 AM UTC

tonymet wrote: post #32

MBCook wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of ICE cars I get stuck behind from time to time that just REEK is amazing. I’m in a decently well off area too. Some putting off soot clouds, white smoke, nothing visible but clearly not doing complete combustion. Sometimes I wonder if half the cylinders are even working. I’ve heard one car like that is the equivalent of a surprisingly large number of modern ICE cars is in good shape. I love EVs. I’ve had…

tragically, because of efficiency standards, modern engines are known to burn oil . Otherwise you may be smelling cars who have had the cats stolen.

A lot of Americans take their cat off on purpose for louder noises.

Additionally, a lot of conservatives love to "Roll coal", and literally will shit up the environment on purpose just because they feel schadenfreude from pissing of an environmentalist.

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

#48

Post by tbrownaw » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:05 AM UTC

wilg wrote: post #40

tbrownaw wrote: post #22

This study is about air quality in neighborhoods . So it would show the same thing even if EVs just moved pollution from where people use their cars to where power plants get placed, because that's not the question it's addressing.

OK but we already know that EVs don't just move pollution around.

AIUI there are still disagreements about how to calculate that exactly. This study doesn't (and doesn't try to) provide any input towards settling that.

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

#49

Post by thegreatpeter » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:05 AM UTC

ares623 wrote: post #4

princevegeta89 wrote: post #3

No surprises. No matter how we look at it, EVs are much friendlier and safer to the environment. Some people argue the source of electricty can be contested against because that involves fossil fuel burning again, but in today's world we are rapidly moving away from it and towards nuclear/hydel/wind methods for generating power. I hope ICE cars completely become a thing of the past in the next couple of decades to co…

I just hope "dumb" EV's become a thing soon. I cannot and will not own a smart car any more I want to own a smart TV or smart fridge or smart toaster.

Have you been in the new Model Y? I was all for the „dumb car” until I tried one of those. Never going back.

You only want „dumb” bc the other car companies fk’d it all up.

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

#50

Post by SloppyDrive » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 3:06 AM UTC

ares623 wrote: post #4

princevegeta89 wrote: post #3

No surprises. No matter how we look at it, EVs are much friendlier and safer to the environment. Some people argue the source of electricty can be contested against because that involves fossil fuel burning again, but in today's world we are rapidly moving away from it and towards nuclear/hydel/wind methods for generating power. I hope ICE cars completely become a thing of the past in the next couple of decades to co…

I just hope "dumb" EV's become a thing soon. I cannot and will not own a smart car any more I want to own a smart TV or smart fridge or smart toaster.

Post crash connectivity (as well as complex video classification) are part of the ncap standards now.

And with the way we are moving to centralized one system architectures, the device that does video processing can be the same soc that does smart infotainment.

Smart connectivity essentially comes "for free" if the manufacturer wants to hit 5 safety stars, so its not going away, and will come to ICE cars as they modernize the vehicle architectures.