Electric cars net-bad everywhere
Switching from gasoline to electric means less CO₂
but electric cars 500kg+ heavier and therefore deadlier in accidents
Using realistic carbon cost at $68/ton (EU)
more deadly outweigh less CO₂
New Nature study:
nature.com/articles/d4158…
Electric cars are in general much heavier than their gasoline counterparts, which makes them much more dangerous in traffic
nature.com/articles/d4158…
Not surprisingly, this is not the preferred message,
so Nature article uses unrealistic $150 CO₂ price
Switching to heavier electric car on very clean electricity grids like Norway/France juust ok
Even at $150, switching bad in US, Germany, Japan, China, India & Australia
Electric cars net-bad everywhere
Switching from gasoline to electric means less CO₂
but electric cars 1000lb+ heavier and therefore deadlier in accidents
W/realistic cost of $9.3/ton CO₂ (US RGGI)
more deadly way override less CO₂
New Nature study:
nature.com/articles/d4158…
Study emphasizes cost-benefit is a simplification:
Leaves out
injury (electric cars worse)
air pollution (electric cars better, though pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.102…)
air pollution (heavier electric cars means more air pollution from tires)
To the many arguing that heavier (electric) cars are safer: yes, for their occupants, but even more unsafe for the cars they hit, leading to overall higher risk of mortality
A heavier car has externality, making others die more
Based on this:
academic.oup.com/restud/article…
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