Buying a new car is not better than keeping an old one

It's an interesting one, a lot of people really do seem to be arguing cars shouldn't exist which is absolutely insane, likewise there are people who have the equally hairbrained idea that cars are the only option for any journey.

There is no doubt at all that fleet managed self-driving electric cars are at some point going to be a vital part of all transport networks, the efficiency and utility is far higher than any other potential option. Lithium batteries can be recycled endlessly and the construction process can be powered from renewables so long term we're going to get to a point where the ecological impact is negligible.

Of course we should be using other options where appropriate but we don't have a magic wand so we need the utility of small personal transport, if we're going to start switching off oil production systems then we're going to need those vehicles to run on electric - the more we shift to electric the better the support and industrial infrastructure gets and the more refined the technology becomes.

If the better future has cars then those cars should be electric (or hydrogen ig)

Tbh that should be expected. It's always easier to convince someone to use an option that already exists and is observably better than their current situation than it is to convince them to support a theoretical change that will take place in the future if we inconvenience them now. That's just how "humans" work.

It’s to be expected I suppose.

Too many people think upgrading their car to electric is ‘doing their part’ but when they are replacing a vehicle less than 5 years old with an electric car they also intend to replace within 5 years, they haven’t helped anything.

Also people don’t want to feel like the action they took is actually unhelpful.

They like greenwashing and want to feel good about their choices. Applying critical analysis to a complex problem like climate change is hard compared to buying a Tesla.