Thread by @AukeHoekstra

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)

https://twitter.com/ThomasGibon/status/1335178227950686208

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?

What goes wrong in the Golf-eGolf comparison is the same as with the @PolestarCars 2 LCA that I criticized last week and that turned into #Astongate/#Boschgate.

Taking 'official' WLTP measurements that we know are wrong makes the electric car looks bad.

https://twitter.com/AukeHoekstra/status/1332464525602410498

So I think carmakers and journalists have to make up their mind: do they want to communicate official numbers that everybody knows are incorrect, or do they want to communicate reality?

In plain language: please stop lying!
(Here I tell that on TV.)

https://twitter.com/AukeHoekstra/status/1333013006721163265?s=20

The advantage of the eGolf becomes even larger than what Thomas demonstrates, if we estimate the electricity mix of the electric car over its lifetime.

Basically the electricity becomes cleaner as time goes on and hence the electric car becomes cleaner.

But enough complaining: what REALLY impresses me is the length to which @volkswagen went to make the ID.3 production low carbon: their own company in the EU, optimizing all processes, and buying green energy all the way and offsetting the rest.

Respect!
volkswagenag.com/en/news/storie…

So yes, @volkswagen should use real world fuel consumption and production, and use electricity over the lifetime of the vehicle.

BUT, they've gone to great lengths to reduce the carbon footprint of the ID.3: this might be the most environmentally friendly EV that money can buy.

I think on this front it's now a race between @volkswagen and @Tesla. They are both cleaning up production at an impressive pace. If they keep this competition up for a few more years it will have an enormous positive impact on the production process.