We need to move around!

The idea of having a sustainable living is one of my goals in life. Not only regarding environment but also my job and sources of income. That's one of the reasons I love @steembasicincome and the UBI concept itself.

Because for me, I can't really say our society has moved to another era unless we see the planet as the means to provide us basic needs just because we exist. Today, people need to work their socks just to buy some carrots... And we're just as miserable society as we have even been. We may have iPhones and all, but didn't evolute at all.

So the concept of making resources disappear because we need to move from place to place screams "unsustainable" to me. That's the charm of electric cars: you delegate that part to the way we produce energy, and if you can make clean energy you're garanteed to move forever without screwing up the planet that produces your food and lets you live and breathe.

_{Source: VW}

Myths and legends

Living in a country that produces mostly renewable energy (specially in the winter), I felt very attracted to electric cars, constantly searching for new models and latest prices. I finally got my hands on a little Peugeot iOn about 9 months ago. But since I drive about 200km two times a week, I still needed to burn diesel on that trip. The new Nissan Leaf makes the trick so that's it, I'll be buying one and finally end petroleum burning in my household.

_{My lovely EV!}

There are, though, some urban myths about electric cars, highly incentivized by the petroleum industry. We regularly hear fake news subsidized by them, and there goes science proving them wrong... Again. There are also some frequently asked questions.

In a small series of posts, I'll try to tackle them, while clearing some myths about electric cars:

1. What if all the energy is non-renewable?

Oil industry has long tried to boost the myth that EVs using non-renewable energy are actually more harmful than ICE cars. So in a country like Poland where most energy comes from burning stuff, you'd be making the problem worse. Science has long proved the efficiency of electric motors is about 70%, whereas combustion ones are about 16%.

But if you don't care about real science, there is empirical data in our roads, thanks to cars like the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera. These cars are pure EVs with a small petrol generator to feed the battery if it gets too depleted. Such a big and heavy car would consume at least 7-8L/100km of petrol with a combustion engine, but with an electric engine and a petrol range extender, it spends about 5L...

_{Source: The Telegraph}

2. The damage to the environment done by battery assembly is bigger than years of ICE driving

Another myth. Sure if you need to gather some minerals you don't need in ICE cars (people always point the lithium... which makes maybe 3% of the total battery mass?). You need to prospect and dig and extract those minerals and that harms the planet.

But batteries are 100% reusable and recyclable. If they get too old they can just disassembly them and use the resources for other things. Nothing is ever lost with batteries... But oil yes, it transforms into toxic gases that are harmful to our planet and our health!

Also some of this pseudo-studies only measure tank-to-wheel consumption, disregarding the process of prospect, extraction, transport, refining, transport again, that consume WAY much more petroleum you can imagine. This "well-to-wheel" efficiency of ICE cars is so ridiculous I won't even mention it.

That's it for this week! Is there any other myths you want me to tackle? Any questions I could try to answer?

I'm all yours! Just go and comment!

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