Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Astongate

Most recents (9)

I love Rowan Atkinson the comedian and I believe he learned electrical engineering once, but I feel this erroneous article on EVs dupes the readers of the @guardian and that's starting to become a pattern.

Electric vehicles really emit 3x less CO2.
🧵
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
I didn't do something similar in school once. I actually study this specific topic at the @TUeindhoven. So I do actually dive into the facts.

And debunking nonsense like this from people like Atkinson who think or pretend to know better sometimes feels like a full time job.
Please do look up all my studies and debunks in my pinned thread if you would like more in depth info but in essence it's simple:

EVs use around 4x less energy and that energy can come from electricity that is becoming increasingly low carbon.
Read 19 tweets
An academic paper funded by the gas industry published in a mediocre journal recommends blending hydrogen into gas grid for heating.

A public records request reveals: Some of the study’s recommendations were substantially written by a gas lobbyist.

🧵

bostonglobe.com/2022/11/16/sci…
1/ Here's what the evidence not funded by any industry interests says about hydrogen for heating. I published a meta-review of all independent existing studies I could find in September.
2/ The paper "The viability of implementing hydrogen in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" would have been excluded in my review because it did receive industry funding. frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…
Read 15 tweets
British media and @VolvoCarUK are resuscitating an erroneous study I corrected before in #Astongate.

But it's become WORSE!

Claim: it takes 70k miles for EVs to pay back battery production.

Reality: 16k miles.

Let me explain once again (sigh).
thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/art…
I research this at the @TUeindhoven and try to correct errors in the media. And this is not my first rodeo with @volvocars and @PolestarCars.

I already flagged this study in september 2020.
I also had a nice 3 hour chat with Polestars LCA lead.
Then the study was reused in an "independent" study that turned out to be published by the wife of a PR head at Aston Martin.

It became the saga of #AstonGate.

Here's a link to my (long) thread that takes you directly to the nice blog by @MLiebreich.
Read 15 tweets
171 scientists find calculation error that proves the electric vehicle is not greener!

That's the gist of many German papers today but a better headline would be:

THE COMBUSTION ENGINE LOBBY IS GASLIGHTING AGAIN

Thread
The hubbub is about an open letter to the @EU_Commission by a greenwashing combustion engine lobby group iastec.org/open-letter-2 based on a calculation published in a mathematical (?) journal by some combustion engine scientists.
s875128239.online.de/wp-content/upl…

Let's take it apart!
I must admit the details of the math confused me at first. It seemed unnecessarily complicated so I asked my friend @nworbmot to take a look. (He's a quantum physics scientist who now makes energy models: he can do REALLY complicated math.)
Read 19 tweets
Oil producer Saudi @Aramco is so scared of electric vehicles that they are now promoting the nonsensical idea of capturing the CO2 emission of cars and trucks with combustion engines.

Allow me to explain why this is nonsense and why it;s probably a cynical ploy.
(short thread)
Burning 1 kg of diesel produces ~2.5 kg of CO2.
At room temp. that's ~1000 liter!
umsl.edu/~biofuels/Ener…

So 1 liter diesel => ~700 liter of CO2.
You could compress it but that would cost extra energy and at the least you need a gas tank much larger than you diesel tank.
Will all gas stations also have a gargantuan CO2 tank to store the CO2? I mean, cars do deliver ~700 liter CO2 for every liter of diesel they bought!

Will we have multiple tank trucks to ferry away the CO2 (to where?) that's caused by the diesel that one truck provided?
Read 7 tweets
Love this! @JoeriRogelj asked me for a debunk of Golf vs e-Golf and @ThomasGibon provided it immediately!

He shows the result using realistic diesel consumption and production. Thx Thomas!

But the article is about the ID.3.
And the ID.3 rocks! (thread)
First the problems: in an article that touts the carbon neutral production of the ID.3, @volkswagen puts a comparison chart with an eGolf that has extremely high carbon production emissions. Not smart. I would replace it with an ID.3 based chart asap.
volkswagenag.com/en/news/storie…
And while you are at it I would also cut/improve second 8 to 14 of the accompanying video because why bother telling lies about how much CO2 is emitted by the petrol and diesel Golf when you have such a strong story about the electric vehicle?
Read 9 tweets
Thread with tweets I refer to often.

First my studies showing EVs are really much better

Article Joule

CO2 study with Prof Steinbuch avere.org/wp-content/upl…

Us in Der Spiegel

Transport & Environment tool
Then some debunks of articles that exaggerate CO2 emissions by electric vehicles (EVs) in the British press.

Let's start with #AstonGate.
I show EVs emit less after 16k miles (not 50k).
Michael shows bad intentions.
There was a whole host of this nonsense. Here's a debunk of nonsense in the Spectator


The Global Warming Policy Foundation is behind much of the FUD. Here's a back and forth
thegwpf.org/content/upload…

Deep dive into oil production
Read 12 tweets
@AukeHoekstra @StevePeers Auke, thanks for this. Let me add a nice twist. Clarendon Communications Ltd was only registered on 10 Feb 2020:
…te.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/124518…
@AukeHoekstra @StevePeers Clarendon Communications has one director, Rebecca Caroline Stephens. She's never been a director of another UK company:
…te.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/vfPjd…
@AukeHoekstra @StevePeers Clarendon Communications website is fascinating. PR companies normally tout the experience of their team. Not this company, it doesn't even list Rebecca Stephens, the only director. It does list two clients: @astonmartin and @RobertBoschUK. clarendoncommunications.co.uk/clients
Read 17 tweets
New 'study' claims it takes 48k miles for electric vehicles to emit less CO2 than gasoline cars.

But it's just a misleading brochure.
Reality is closer 16k miles.

UK media including @thetimes where mislead by this carmaker-paid attack on @BorisJohnson's green plans. (thread) Image
About me:

I research electric vehicles at @TUeindhoven and direct NEONresearch.nl.

Comparing CO2 emissions of electric vehicles and combustion cars is my specialty.

My paper describing common errors: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

A recent report:
avere.org/wp-content/upl… Image
Here is @thetimes @GraemePaton reporting on 'a study commissioned by vehicle and technology companies' where 'researchers recorded results'.
thetimes.co.uk/article/electr…

And there's literally dozens of others who fell for this. ImageImageImage
Read 29 tweets

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