Mike's Minute: A deeper dive into EVs

What we need is an "are we sure we know what we are doing before we rush into this" catalogue or guide. 

The EV story might turn out to be one of the world's, and certainly the transportation industry's, biggest headaches as company after company admit they leapt in way too quick to electric, bought into all the Government-led madness on climate and invested, God-knows how much to transfer to a mode of movement the world wasn’t ready for, or wanted. 

EVs were sold as way more than they ever were. 

Now even the scientists are waking up. There's a good piece of reading from Dr Caroline Shaw published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, whereby they do what we really should have done at the start and look at the EV in totality. 

It said don’t get all hyped and hooked up on emissions. Yes, emissions in an EV vs petrol debate do drop. But what about the rest of it? They looked at all sorts of things like the extra weight, therefore the extra wear and tear, the weight and therefore the potential for injury, the cheapness of driving, therefore you drive more, therefore our fitness drops as we drive and don’t walk. 

They looked at a myriad of things that should have been thought about and scoped out on day one and weighed up. 

Because here is the end result: when you add all that stuff up, the good, the bad and the ugly, electrifying cars would lie somewhere between harmful and neutral. 

Are you serious? 

Going electric could be harmful? Would it have not been useful to crunch a few of those ideas to understand this at the start of the obsession that drove the thinking? 

Or, like so much ideology, do the details not matter as long as we can leap on the old bandwagon, take a small piece of the bigger picture and then milk it for all its worth, knowing that we can leave the reality and the clean-up for another day? 

This by the way is not anti-EV. 

It’s the realisation that like most things, what was the answer, and the obsession, and the next new thing, actually turns out to be just another piece in a way bigger, more complex, picture than the obsessives ever care to learn about.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So what we need I was thinking to myself yesterday

(00:02):
what we need is, are are you sure we know
what we are doing before we rush into this catalog
or guide. So the EV's story might turn out to
be one of the worlds and certainly the transport industry's
biggest headaches, as company after company admit they leapt in
weight too quick to electric, brought into all the government
led madness on climate, and invested god knows how much
to transfer to a mode of movement the world wasn't

(00:23):
ready for or wanted. EV's were sold as a well
way more than they ever were, and now even the
scientists are waking up. We've got a very good piece
of reading I'd recommend to you from doctor Carolyn Shaw,
published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, whereby
they do what we really should have done at the start.
They look at the EV in totality. Don't get all

(00:43):
hyped and hooked up on emissions. I mean, yes, emissions
in an EVV petrol debate drop, But what about the
rest of it? They looked at all sorts of things.
The extra weight, for example, therefore the extra wear and tear,
the weight and therefore the potential for injury if you
get hit by something way heavier, the cheapness of driving
there before you drive more. Therefore, our fitness drops as
we drive and don't walk. Myriad of things that should

(01:05):
have been thought about and scoped on day one and
waded up, because here's the end result when you add
all that stuff up, the good, the bad, and the
ugly electrifying cars would lie somewhere, she says.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Between harmful and neutral? Are you serious harmful? Going electric
could be harmful? Would it have not been useful to
crunch a few of those ideas to understand right at
the start before the subsession took off? Or like so
much ideology, do the details not really matter as long
as we can leap on the old bandwagon, take a
small piece of the bigger picture, milkot for all it's

(01:36):
worth knowing that we can leave the reality and the
clean up for another day. This, by the way, is
not antiev It's just simply the realization that, like most
things in life these days, what was the answer was
the obsession was the next new thing actually turns out
to be just another piece in a way bigger, more
complex picture than the obsessive ever care to learn of it.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
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