• lemmyng@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    45
    ·
    1 month ago

    How does the users’ EV carbon footprint compare to the pre-EV one? A change from say 80th percentile to 60th is still above average, but an improvement nevertheless.

  • bestboyfriendintheworld
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    1 month ago

    Wealthier people tend to have bigger carbon footprints because they have bigger homes, travel more, can afford more goods, etc.

  • lurch (he/him)
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    1 month ago

    don’t let big oil trick you into forgetting that companies are the real culprit

  • superkret@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Well, duh. If you change nothing about your lifestyle except adding an EV to your fleet, you’re not helping the climate.
    We can’t produce and consume our way out of this.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      You are helping the climate because the EV is better than the ICE you would have used instead. It is a baby step, but given that humans will object to changing their lifestyle a very useful one. We need lots of other options for those rich to improve their climate footprint. (great transit would be better, but it needs to be good enough that they decide that don’t need a car - not the transit for those who after 5 DWIs can’t get someone else to drive them which is what a lot of rich get)

  • Sunshine (she/her)@lemmy.caM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 month ago

    Rich people eat more animal products, live in large single family homes and travel a lot so they need to go plant based, buy a condo instead of a mansion and fly less.

  • DV8@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 month ago

    Interesting. Though I’d love to see more studies on this and especially ones comparing countries. I know that in Belgium it seems many EV owners also own solar panels and are at least more likely to also have batteries. And the rich people can actually afford to build more climate neutral houses with heat pumps. (As heat pumps here are more expensive than heating with gas which is less efficient)

    Apart from that I always figured ev’s are a great solution to local pollution: cars driving through streets, idling through intersections etc. Less so for global pollution though across their life they should still be better I thought.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    11
    ·
    1 month ago

    I think what this shows is that EVs are, as of right now at least, more status symbols than climate mitigation tools. While some people certainly do buy EVs because they care about the planet, many don’t really care all that much. I think this is also holding back mass EV adoption in the US. We need EVs to be seen as the sensible choice for the average person, not playthings for the rich and opulent.

    • pageflight@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 month ago

      I think they can be a climate conscious choice and unaffordable. But getting better, and still a worthwhile step.

    • 4shtonButcher@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      We were sad to realize we’d need a car (dog, kid, family and friends in unpractical locations) but we made sure to buy a used electric car instead of just any cheap used car. I mean we put a child in this world, we shouldn’t fuck it up more than absolutely necessary.