Question Of The Week Answers | 15 Aug 2021

Show #1180.

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 15th August. It’s  Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

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The environment has been a 10/10 reason I wanted an ev since I first heard of them years ago. 

Now with how freaking cool they are I’d say a 9/10, not because the environment is any less of a reason, but because all the other cool aspects are 10% of why I want one now, too. 

Home charging

Cheaper to run

Less maintenance 

High tech

Luxury 

Instant torque

All freaking awesome, and would make me want an ev over an ice alone, but the environment is just too important for it not to be the biggest reason by far. 

For me the environment was a solid 7 for why I initially got into EVs, not just the devastating impacts of climate change, as discussed by the IPCC report you mentioned, but also the health impacts; There is a recent study published by Harvard’s school of public health showing that almost one in 5 deaths worldwide are due to fossil fuel particulates, and infants are particularly susceptible, as you have also pointed out. 

But in addition to the above, fossil fuel subsidies have gotten out of hand. There was an IMF study Showing that 5.2 trillion US dollars were spent globally on fossil fuel subsidies, which was equivalent of over 6.5% of global GDP, the U.S. alone spent 649 billion in 2017, which is more that we spent on Defense! The worldwide opportunity cost of that expenditure is staggering.

My main interest in EVs is intelligence and rational as species. I want human beings to be intelligent and understand that we must pursue a 100% renewable future. Not because it is good or bad, but because it is beautiful. In this sense, burning any fuel or nuclear deposit is not an option, however clean it can be. Even if we found our way to clean nuclear fission, I wouldn't pursue it as long as that would lead to an overmassificated earth, with little to no space for wild life.

The only intelligent and proudly option is to create a long lasting renewable society that uses sunlight for its needed energy, and that is electrical energy and that means EV's.

So environment is 10 out of 10, simply because the goal, for me, is equilibrium.

Like you, I was first drawn to EV cars because I had a chance to drive one early on and was immediately smitten. I'm a person who buys cars first and foremost for performance and fun driving. After an autocross day in my brother's (2013) Fiat 500e I was sold. My earlier experiences with a Tesla Model S were less impressive to me due to the astronomical cost.

Since then, range and prices came down enough to buy my first EV, a Kia Niro EV. A major part of the calculus was my 50-mile round-trip commute. I was spending too much money on fuel. With off-peak charging I am now saving nearly $10/day in fuel alone just on my commute. I have since changed to an ID.4.

Now, as I live in an area in the northern US seeing its worst drought in more than 30 years, climate aspects are increasingly nearing the top of my list. We are in a climate emergency. With that said, I've also been riding my e-bike as much as possible for simple errands around town, and walking to pick up my kids for daycare each day instead of driving. (Even driving an EV is less "green" than walking, as you know.)

In summary, currently my list of reasons I drive an EV is roughly as follows:

1. cost of operation

2. environment

3. fun

4. reliability

5. tech

6. stress-free driving

It was always about the environment from the start. My wife and I planned to transition to EV/Solar/Geothermal over the course of a decade. We started in 2014 swapping out our Hyundai Elantra for a used 2012 Nissan Leaf. We then swapped out our Nissan Sentra for a used 2017 Volt. We then moved to a single story house (less problematic for my wife who has MS) which also had a nice South-facing roof, and began installing solar, which was done in three phases from 2015-2019. Next the Volt was traded for a Tesla Model 3, and our gasoline consumption dropped to zero (from 1000+ gallons annually in 2014). 

The last step will be to replace our gas furnace with a ground source heat pump in the next 2-3 years.

All of the fun and savings have been icing on the cake.

my ranking for environmental reasons to buy an EV is 10. 

because of my understanding of the climate crisis i realized

i must drive an EV and bought a Bolt immediately after release,

and later a Model 3.

On a scale of one to ten , I would give environment #1 as a motivator for EV purchase.

I wish I could say “10” for environmental reasons, but in all honesty it was probably “8”, with a few guilty points in there for the attractions of cool tech.  

Two years later, I still believe that electric cars are way better than their gas predecessors, but am coming to realize that improving components of a broken system is not good enough.  Cars are still part of a massive resource consumption lifestyle that is killing us, and the planet.  So I’m happy to see increased numbers of electric cars, solar farms, etc., but it’s not going to be enough.  We have a full system problem, and there’s little recognition of it, or sense of urgency to fix it.

So! Interesting question this week.. So when I bought my Leaf 24 back in 2016.. the environment benefit to me was a nice to have (2 out of 10). But like everyone else, when I started my EV journey I leaned what a kWh was and started to understand and think about where that energy came from. 

Fast forward 5 years I now drive a Tesla LR as the "main" car so 100% on my driving is electric and I use 100% renewable energy from our friends at Octopus. We are also looking to install solar with battery and air source heat pump to remove gas from out home to become as CO2 neutral as we can.

So in a nut shell, it was a 2 but now a 10! 🤣

My reason is currently at about a 7. 

When I first became interested it was about a 2. 

I fell in love with the idea of an EV being  economical, fun to drive, and just simple to maintain. I prefer things around me to just work and not be complicated.  I wasn’t convinced that it was good for the planet because of all the negative news such as burning coal to charge the EV, etc.  Because of podcast like yours I have been educated and now know the truth!  I’m currently not in a financial position to purchase an EV, however that is the goal I’m working towards. Volkswagen ID 4 is the model I look forward to owning. 

Hi Martyn, my first EV was bought in 2017 July 4th. 

Environment ranked 10th .

First was cost . Being a Yorkshireman will always be no.1

Fast forward to 2021. Now I'm more aware of climate change etc.

Environment is now no.2

Cost still leads the way.

I am 10/10 in buying an EV for environmental reasons.

I first drove an EV in 2019 and really liked the way they drove. But I don't think I would have bought one if they hadn't been better for the environment as it was by far the most expensive car I have ever bought.

Having said that, I am saving far more in running costs than I anticipated. My little petrol hatchback was costing me about 10p/mile in petrol which I thought was cheap. But by charging my Renault Zoe overnight at 5p/kWh and making use of the free 22kW charger at Tesco,(every little helps 😃) my fuel costs are now about 1p/mile and I am saving about £1,500 a year in fuel costs. 

On a scale of 1-10, where does ‘environment’ rank for the reason you’re interested in EVs?

When I purchased our EV this spring.  My reasons were as follows

1.           Just tired of stopping at the gas (petrol) station every other day for my 150-mile daily commute.

2.           having a zippy fun to drive car for that commute.

3.           may other reasons

       9.  The environment 

My answer is the same as yours. I bought an EV to learn about the tech with protecting the environment as a distant second place in my reasoning.

Now, I am much more interested in the lower carbon emissions, and I even feel guilty when I drive or ride in an ICE vehicle. My attitude has changed markedly.

Researched EV's for 2 years before buying a low-cost 2015 Nissan Leaf, and have driven it now for 2 years. My opinion hasn't changed over those 4 years.

(1-10) How important was saving the environment as a factor for purchasing/driving my EV  -->  2. I acknowledge the benefits of driving and not emitting exhaust fumes, but it wasn't a major reason for why I bought or still continue to drive my EV.

I would say that I’m a strong 7 out of 10 for the environmental reasons of buy my EV. I bought my ID.4 last month….unfortunately it’s been in the garage three out of the four weeks due to some controller failures.

I bought the car because I am concerned about the environment and I want to move away from fossil fuels and into cleaner tech in general, have upgraded the house too with heat pumps and I have solar on the way too. I’m also a bit of a gadget fiend  and I just like the whole idea of moving to new tech.  However it didn’t take me long to get used to paying very little to charge my car and given that I’ve had three ICE replacements for the car whilst in the garage I have to say it’s a sting paying at the pump again!!!

I got into the whole ev car movement initially because of the tech / geeky aspect. However I only bought my EV in December and it was a after reading and listening to podcasts about EVs and how their impact to the environment is better than my 1.0 MG ZS which guzzled more fuel than my previous car a 325i BMW. So on a scale of 1-10 I’d have to say 5 , the financial benefits weighted heavily as did the enjoyment of driving the EV. 

My wife and I have ordered a Model Y LR recently and would say the current state of the climate (and it’s bleak future) has influenced our purchase GREATLY! I would give it a 9 out of 10.

We live in Denver, CO which was recently rated the most polluted city in the world last week due to fires in the west, the elevation, and of course ICE vehicles. 

For work I drive for hours everyday, and often sit in my car for extended periods of time to answer emails/ prepare for the site I am going to. I try my best to not let the car idle but with how hot it has been getting, it’s a difficult ask. I feel awful for it, but it will be a great day once we have our model Y and these worries are no longer a thing. 

A cheaper EV would probably work for us but long trips back to our hometown of Normal, IL are best suited for a Tesla. It will be our only vehicle until we can afford another EV in the future.. maybe a Rivian R1T if we’re lucky :)

My previous car, which according to some sources there's no such thing, gave me a mild taste of driving electric.

I just wanted more of that. So on a scale from 1 to 10 the environment scored 0 as a reason to buy an EV. Going green(er) came as an added bonus. I know, I'm a bad person. 

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