Well, how about that…
I can't even tell you how many times I've heard people
yammer on and on about how horrible classic cars are for the environment.
Usually, their eyes are bugging out, spittle's flying out of their mouth, and
they're filled with self-righteousness but few facts. They'll vehemently insist
that driving your old Camaro, Mustang, Charger, or whatever you own is
destroying the planet in real-time while refusing to discuss the process of
extracting minerals for making EV batteries, let alone the insane energy levels
required in the manufacturing process. That's why reading a new study from UK
insurance provider Footman James is so refreshing because it doesn't talk about
emotional rage, sticking instead to the inconvenient facts. READ MORE. healthnutritionhints
Watch our interview with a car detailer here.
Even inside this industry, there are those running around
claiming all classic cars will be electrified in 10 or 15 years or whatever
time frame they were told by someone else. The assumption is this will be good
for the environment, that driving a classic car with batteries and an electric
motor will cause trees to spring forth in the Sahara Desert and the unicorns to
return from the ocean.
According to Footman James' study, the reality is far
different because classic cars with those evil, gas-burning engines are better
for the environment than new electric vehicles. People who believe the opposite
look at tailpipe emissions, behaving as if that's everything in the equation.
They don't consider pollution generated by the manufacturing process. In the
study, Footman James mentions that in the UK, a classic car, on average, is
driven 1,200 miles a year and puts out 563 kg of CO2. But a new VW Golf is made
by generating 6.8 tons of CO2e. Even worse, a Polestar 2 (a Swedish electric
car) generates 26 tons of CO2 during manufacturing. That means you could drive
your classic car for over 46 years before it generates as much CO2 as the
"green" electric vehicle. Let that sink in for a moment.
Footman James rightly points out that within those 46 years,
the Polestar 2's battery will need to be replaced, maybe even swapped for a new
one twice or more. And what happens to the battery? Can it be recycled? The
answer, for now, is no. Meanwhile, the classic car keeps running without
contributing significantly to a landfill. But you should feel bad for driving
such an awful pollution machine, or so we're told. I wish the study dug more
into the human and environmental costs associated with the extraction of raw
materials to build electric cars. There's also the fact that many of these
minerals are mined in authoritarian countries like China and Russia, where many
accusations have been levied that slave labour is used in the process.
Keep all this in mind the next time your neighbour,
relative, or friend who just bought a shiny new Tesla tries guilt-tripping you
about owning and driving a classic. Sure, the smug, self-righteous attitude can
be annoying, especially when people who know next to nothing about cars are
just fascinated by anything novel. Still, the facts don't exactly back up their
daydreams of becoming Captain Planet. READ MORE. webcomputerworld
