Designer EVs Are Getting in the Way of the Climate Movement

May 04, 2023

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by Owen Bellwood (Jalopnik) A Wired report discusses how eco-conscious choices like switching to an electric vehicle are being overshadowed by the glamor associated with going green. ... But now, a new report from Wired warns that such glamorous solutions to the climate crisis might actually be getting in the way of messaging around the issues. This piece looks into the impact steps like going vegan, driving an EV and even building design can have on the environment.

According to Wired, steps like these can be divided up according to their emissions and the capital required to implement them. However, it warns that many approaches being taken to the climate crisis fall under the low-emissions, high-capital quadrant. Wired reports:

“But right now, resources are disproportionately tied up in approaches that stockpile financial, social, and human capital within the high-tech quadrants of the matrix, largely because that’s where the money is.

“Venture capital and private equity firms are willing to gamble $53.7 billion on climate tech startups because patent-protected technologies promise an exclusive profit for companies and their investors. While the public waits for those riches to trickle down, there’s a dearth of funding for open-source equivalents that might offer more immediate benefits.”

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In fact, the piece even warns that consumerism is often seen as the “prerequisite for innovation” here in the U.S. How often have you heard that you need to buy something new and more efficient like a refrigerator or stove top? This, the piece suggests, is all part of messaging that has taught us that “decarbonization is possible if only the public had a shinier array of products to buy.”

But what does all this have to do with cars and transportation? Well, this very same messaging is regularly batted around in the automotive space as well. Here, we’re regularly told that the perfect city car is actually a 5,000 pound electric SUV. These solutions all fall under Wired’s low-emissions, high-capital quadrant.

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The battery on the Hummer EV weighs as much as a Toyota Prius, and Wired warns that while the EV might have zero tailpipe emissions, its production, transportation and charging could actually emit more carbon than “some smaller gas cars emit from the tailpipe.”

But moving away from our penchant for big cars and instead fundamentally changing the way we travel around the U.S. isn’t as appealing to policymakers. Wired suggests that lower-tech approaches to the climate crisis struggle to catch on due to the difficulty in turning a profit from such schemes. READ MORE

Green Innovation Has a Glamour Problem: The US climate movement is often beguiled by glitzy, high-tech solutions. But these can be a costly distraction. (Wired)

Auto union withholds support for Biden, citing electric vehicles: The president of the influential United Auto Workers said the group is seeking better pay and benefits for its workers at electric vehicle facilities. (Politico)

UAW not yet endorsing Biden for second term citing EV policies (Reuters)

Biden nominee pushing electric vehicles faces massive opposition from energy industry (Fox News)

EV adoption brings cleaner air to California — but mostly in wealthy communities (The Hill)

Ford CEO calls electric vehicle market price cuts 'a worrying trend' (Reuters)

Chinese electric vehicle brands expand to global markets (Associated Press)

Electric vehicles appeal to conservative buyers sick of gas guzzlers -- A few red counties in Texas are experiencing higher-than-average EV growth, as drivers tire of gas prices and chase the latest tech (Washington Post)

Excerpt from Wired: LOS ANGELES, A city notorious for endless traffic jams, is clearing some space overhead. With a vision to make electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft a reality, companies are vying for the chance to fulfill long-held science fiction dreams. Will swapping tailpipes for propellers really revolutionize urban mobility while decarbonizing the transportation sector, currently the largest single source of US greenhouse gas emissions? That seems like the real fantasy.

As a systems transition designer, I spend a lot of time considering the various post-carbon futures we could move toward, and how best to reach a more equitable one. Climate mitigation measures are not simply a means to an end; the means are actively shaping the end. All too often, a so-called solution may alleviate the discomforts of a broken system while entrenching its underlying conditions. Why do we invest in flashy, resource-intensive proposals when there are more elegant, straightforward interventions right in front of us?

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US climate initiatives tend to funnel private funding, corporate innovation, and government action toward the low-emissions, high-capital/tech quadrant while neglecting the low-emissions, low-capital/tech quadrant.

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Even as low-income communities are priced out by new LEED-certified high-rises, we overlook the adaptive reuse of older buildings, which can create affordable housing without the steep energy and material costs of demolition and fabrication.

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But right now, resources are disproportionately tied up in approaches that stockpile financial, social, and human capital within the high-tech quadrants of the matrix, largely because that’s where the money is. Venture capital and private equity firms are willing to gamble $53.7 billion on climate tech startups because patent-protected technologies promise an exclusive profit for companies and their investors. While the public waits for those riches to trickle down, there’s a dearth of funding for open-source equivalents that might offer more immediate benefits.

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When a $20 million XPrize rewards premium vodka brands and carbon-negative yoga mats, we bet on consumerism as the prerequisite for innovation and suggest that decarbonization is possible if only the public had a shinier array of products to buy.

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When critics dismiss lower-tech initiatives on grounds that they won’t “scale up” enough to make a difference, they’re often insinuating that there’s not enough opportunity to generate private profit. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico: “The federal government is pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers. The EV transition is at serious risk of becoming a race to the bottom,” (United Auto Workers President Shawn) Fain wrote in the memo. “We want to see national leadership have our back on this before we make any commitments.”

He said he and other leaders recently met with Biden administration officials to push their case.

“We were very adamant that if the government is going to funnel billions in taxpayer money to these companies, the workers must be compensated with top wages and benefits,” he said. “A ‘just transition’ has to include standards for our members and future workers.”

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UAW endorsed Biden in the 2020 race, citing his historic support for labor. The union has more than 400,000 active members in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, according to its website.

The union’s threat exposes a rift between two key Democratic constituencies.

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But Fain ruled out backing former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president, saying another Trump term “would be a disaster.”

“We need to get our members organized behind a pro-worker, pro-climate, and pro-democracy political program that can deliver for the working class.” READ MORE

Excerpt from The Hill: To investigate this hypothesis, the authors analyzed the effects of California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project from 2010–2021, which has offered rebates from $1,000 to $7,500 for the purchase or lease of eligible zero-emissions vehicles.

They found that the project reduced total statewide emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide, but that it increased accumulation of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5).

The shift to cleaner cars could be causing an overall boost in PM 2.5 emissions because vehicle electrification only minimally reduces the release of particulate matter, according to the study.

At the same time, the authors explained, as power production facilities work to meet rising energy demands, they may end up emitting increasing quantities of PM 2.5.

In their decadelong analysis, the authors observed not only a rise in PM 2.5 levels, but also that “changes in air pollution are not distributed equally.”

Their results showed that net reductions of primary PM 2.5, nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions disproportionately occurred in the wealthiest communities.

Among the public health threats associated with increased exposure to air pollutants are elevated cancer risk, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, diabetes and diminished school performance among affected children, according to the study. READ MORE