Study shows EV owners have bigger carbon footprint than average because they are wealthier

I agree with you, but I also hate EVs. Mostly because I think public transport is superior. But I still support it as a driving alternative. It's just the world's biggest half-measure.

And then charge it for that service.

That's it, there are still poor people and socialism.

In other words: OP is barking up the wrong tree as the EVs have little to no correlation with the non-EV-related carbon footprint of the EV owners.

Unless, of course, if OP is implying that EVs are too hard to acquire for the less wealthy consumers, though I somehow doubt that.

You’re right that bad consumer choices like choosing fast fashion or inefficient vehicles result in more harm than good. Though there are places where people don’t have a choice, like in what farms do to produce their meats and produce, and how it’s transported.

What energy sources we use and agriculture are bigger contributors to emissions than consumer goods. Even if people stop buying, manufacturing will happen for war and construction. Reducing emissions is a systems problem, it’s not about telling people to “be more green”. That’s a bandaid for a gushing wound.

I don’t think we should blame people if they buy an ICE car, but we should blame them if they don’t vote for progressive politicians who mandate better industry practices and invest in more green energy.

Here’s some data https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector

My car is 10 years old. It has one of the worst Ford engines ever made and it still drives flawlessly, everything is cheap to repair and maintain. It has a radio and climate control nothing more. It's also fairly fuel efficient.

Nothing new and improved ever gets cheaper over time, that's not how it works. Manufacturers thread the waters with increased prices and if people are willing to pay that price it becomes the new baseline. That's why flagship smart phones went from $400 to $600 to $800 to $1,000 and now $1,200. That's why small lower class cars went from $15,000 to $22,000 new. That's why the new PS5 pro cost $700, etc.

Ideally the price curve of a product starts inflated, drops rapidly and then plateaus at the actual free market value of the product. EVs lasting longer than combustion engine cars (which we have zero empirical evidence by the way) and therefore staying at an inflated price point for longer, benefits nobody but the manufacturer.

I would love to buy a 7 year old EV for $8000 used and have it be my daily car for another 3-4 years. But right now something like that doesn't exist, at least not in the form of a normal sized hatchback.

And rapid development is horrible for maintainability. With billions of possible part combinations even within a single manufacturers car class it becomes impossible for a professional mechanic to repair yet alone diagnose a problem without OEM tools. People have to finally step back from their desire for individualism and accept that for the greater good a unified technical design composition is superior. At least car manufacturers caught up on that, because nowadays cars come with a bunch of features pre-installed but not unlocked in the software, that way at least from a technical standpoint the cars are equal to one another and become simpler to maintain. But the customer still has to foot the bill for all features, driving the price up even more.

EVs have chosen an absolute shit time to emerge. If this change would have happenend in the early 2000s when the car market was relatively stable design wise we wouldn't have any of those problems. Combustion and electric engines would have been able to coexist like manuals and automatics, or diesel and petrol.

Whole lotta citations needed. Here's mine:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/who-wants-to-buy-30-000-used-teslas-from-hertz.html

The high-voltage battery pack is damaged and could cause extreme safety concerns,” a Tesla technician texted him. Because the hole was “exterior damage,” it wasn’t covered by the warranty, which meant a $13,078.58 repair bill.

https://www.teslaownersonline.com/threads/tesla-from-hertz.31723/

Tesla isn't the only company who makes EVs.

I personally bought both of my ev's used. And yes, one is older than 10 years and still running great, I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with one the exact same age.

Parts are out there, and it's getting easier and easier to find refurbished and replacement packs. (Pretty much the only thing that "wears out" in an EV)