Waldo JaquithMay 18, 2024

Heat pumps and induction ranges are two strong examples of products that are better environmentally *and* better products than their gas/oil competitors, for almost everybody. (EVs will get there, but they’re not there yet.)

Because carbon emissions are free, it’s important that low-emission new products be clearly better than the polluting status quo. It’s a high bar, it’s not fair, but I’m glad we have heat pumps and induction ranges as a model.

Show threadDeb Chachra
@waldoj [Also as a woman whose single-car household is an urban apartment, you are correct about EVs; it’s why I still have an ICE car (as well as a subway pass and a Surly Cross Check).]
May 18, 2024 at 8:48pmWeb
Show threadWaldo JaquithMay 18, 2024
@debcha I’d complain about infrastructure here, of both charging equipment and the challenge of expanding mass transit, but that would be preaching to the…preacher, I guess.
Show threadDeb ChachraMay 19, 2024
@waldoj Yeah — EVs are great to actually drive — I like them better than ICEs, with quick acceleration and regenerative braking — but it turns out that the infrastructural systems that underpin personal mobility are inherently collective WHO KNEW
Show threadMax Fenton (defunct)May 18, 2024
@debcha @waldoj I am thrilled every single day with a plug-in hybrid and a place to charge it. Average of 200 miles per gallon and barely a blip on my electricity bill.
Show threadDeb ChachraMay 19, 2024
@maxfenton @waldoj I am hoping to jump straight to an EV for my next car (if I have a next car) but otherwise it would be this.
Show threadMax Fenton (defunct)May 19, 2024
@debcha I have absolutely loved a ~25min range in a town where that’s my maximum round trip. It wouldn’t work nearly as well for me if I lived even two miles further from town. (Or didn’t have a place to charge at home.) It’s about 8 to town, 8 to anywhere else while I’m there and 8 to get home.
Show threadWaldo JaquithMay 19, 2024
@maxfenton @debcha I dislike PHEVs *for me* because I want the mechanical simplicity of no engine etc., but I love that PHEVs make it plausible for so many people become EV drivers a supermajority of the time.