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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 01-Feb-2025 05:56:10 JST Paul Cantrell

   • Prof. Sam Lawler

   FWIW, I reached the same conclusion as @sundogplanets: continuing to drive my old Civic with good mileage <4000 mi/yr has a lower environmental impact than replacing it with an EV.

   If — and it's a big if — but if I can shift enough of my transit needs to bike / public transit / sharing a car / rideshare that I •never• buy another car myself, then it’s not even close.

   That took careful analysis; not clearly the best answer for everyone. Is there a good site out there where you can plug in individual numbers, I wonder? https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/113923576960069369

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 01-Feb-2025 06:13:42 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Prof. Sam Lawler
     • Jesse Morris

     @aubilenon @sundogplanets
     Yeah, I suspect the annual mileage probably matters even more than the fuel efficiency, given the range of variation of the two.

   • Embed this notice
     Jesse Morris (aubilenon@peoplemaking.games)'s status on Saturday, 01-Feb-2025 06:13:44 JST Jesse Morris

     in reply to

     • Prof. Sam Lawler

     @inthehands @sundogplanets My old 2003 Subaru has bad fuel efficiency but I drive it so little that I'm sure the math works out the same. Until it breaks too much to fix, and then I have to make harder choices.

   • Embed this notice
     baibold (baibold@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 01-Feb-2025 09:37:20 JST baibold

     in reply to

     • Prof. Sam Lawler

     @inthehands @sundogplanets

     Getting a used EV (provided you have a spot to charge and don't need massive range) negates a lot of the footprint problems. Both are sunk costs environmentally, but at least retiring the old civic will reduce ongoing demand.

     That said, ditching car entirely if possible is the correct answer.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 01-Feb-2025 09:37:20 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Prof. Sam Lawler
     • baibold

     @baibold @sundogplanets
     Yeah, if I didn't think it was going to be feasible to eliminate the car entirely, I'd seriously consider that. It’s hard to know how best to count the carbon cost of a used EV: it's still creating demand in the EV market, which has indirect manufacturing costs, but…clearly better than new.

   • Embed this notice
     NNN (nnn@urbanists.social)'s status on Saturday, 01-Feb-2025 09:48:52 JST NNN

     in reply to

     • Prof. Sam Lawler

     @inthehands @sundogplanets
     Union of Concerned Scientists had an EV carbon estimator that includes manufacture and local grid sources:

     https://evtool.ucsusa.org/