Thread by @Noahpinion

1/It pains me to start a fight with my fellow YIMBYs, but I'm going to have to.

Yes, switching to greater density and train transit is good and desirable. But in terms of rapid decarbonization, we need ELECTRIC VEHICLES.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

2/In recent months it has become fashionable for YIMBYs to say "ban cars", and to pooh-pooh electric cars.

This is understandable, since America's car-oriented sprawling development pattern does indeed suck, and needs to be changed.

But it's not a short-term solution.

3/We replace our auto fleet every dozen years or so.
energyfuse.org/americas-aging…

Changing the entire U.S. built environment - building new dense neighborhoods around new train lines - is going to take a lot longer than a dozen years.

And we need to fight climate change NOW.

4/In addition, building a whole new America takes LOTS of energy.

Bulldozers. Construction machines. Trucking supplies and workers. It's going to be a monumental undertaking.

Without EVs, building the new Dense America will burn shite-tonnes of fossil fuels.

5/Then there's the politics. Massive YIMBY campaigns have gotten Oregon and Minneapolis to allow 4-plexes. YAY! But that's a FAR cry from eliminating sprawl and transforming the entire American urban landscape. That's going to be a century-long uphill battle, my friends.

6/Whereas simply replacing our cars and trucks and buses with EVs is:
A) something we can do RIGHT NOW
B) something that uses existing infrastructure
C) something that is relatively easy politically

It's a no-brainer. Electric cars now. Electric trucks now. Electric buses now.

7/And even after we get train-centric development, a LOT of Americans are going to own cars. The countries with the best train systems and smartest, densest development - Japan, Switzerland, etc. - also have decently high rates of car ownership.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c…

8/Even if we get the Dense America we want, with all those beautiful well-functioning trains, we're still going to have lots of cars, and we need all of them to be electric cars.

9/So while I understand it if you don't like sprawling suburbia, you don't like car culture, you don't want to see Elon Musk make a bunch of money selling Teslas, or whatever.

But come on, let's get real. We need electric vehicles and we need them yesterday.

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