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Comment by adrianN | Hacker News Reader

Gas and diesel cars don't pay for the damage they cause to the climate, or for the local air pollution. How is that fair?

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That is the real problem. We need to properly price in the negative externality. However, that would mean that driving (and even more so flying) becomes almost prohibitively expensive for many. We already saw with the yellow jackets in France that this would lead to unrest.

You know what else will lead to unrest? Unmitigated climate change. We need to drastically reduce driving. Making it more expensive is just one of the measures to take here. We also need to alternatives easier to use. Better city planning and better infrastructure need to go hand in hand with price signals.

>You know what else will lead to unrest? Unmitigated climate change.

Yeah in 10-50 years. Not now. People that aren't part of the intelligentsia don't see it a threat yet.

This piece of pie every day won’t cause obesity now. Maybe in a few months.

> That is the real problem

A real problem. Both are real problems. The importance of road maintenance isn't diminished by the importance of environmental considerations. Roads are vital to the economy. Governments need to multitask; they need to handle many important matters at once , not focus on one issue at a time while letting others fall to the wayside.

What's the cost of mining lithium for starters.. before talking about fair.

edit: down voted for stating facts.. I've noticed this place is becoming very ideological.. or maybe I'm getting old.

What's the cost of oil spills? It's not like gas and diesel magically flow out of the pump either.

I never said anything that implied gas wasn't an issue .. simply stating a truth bomb about EV's environmental and human costs; lithium mining being the biggest one.

I didn't downvote you and I think you bring a useful point to the discussion, but I also think you'd be better-received if you completed your argument.

Please tell us, what is a good estimate for the impact of producing and EV on the planet? And how does it compare to a gas vehicle? If that's too much work I'd be glad to learn more about battery production, since that's the point of difference.

Not an argument, just a point of view for which I'm open to any and all.

edit: but the cost of rare earth mining is huge and if you don't want to do your own research... that's your call.

Never mind that Lithium is not a rare earth element, nor are cobalt, manganese, or any of the other key components of a lithium-ion battery.

Polestar published their transparency report which states that their fully electric Polestar 2 compared to a Volvo XC40 will break even in CO2 emissions after 112k km (Global energy mix), 78k km (European energy mix) and 50k km (wind energy).

https://www.polestar.com/nl/electric-sustainability/transpar...

You didn't state any facts though.

That's a completely separate issue from what I brought up. The fact is that EV owners don't pay maintenance taxes that are captured through gas taxes, and are complaining when they have to pay additional fees at other times such as registration.

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