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1.8 Million Barrels of Oil a Day Avoided from Electric Vehicles
(cleantechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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Let's be straight about this: It ain't electric cars. Its e-bikes
I'll take a bike over a car any day, but for people who were going to drive? An electric vehicle will save oil usage over an ICE one.
My Bolt EUV uses automatic transmission fluid in the transfer case to reduce the RPMs of the motor to the wheels. Traditionally ATF is refined from crude, but you can use a synthetic replacement. As far as I know it doesn't have any grease fittings either, so it's all sealed in on bearings and the like. Don't get me wrong though, it's a massive reduction in petroleum usage though.
It’s helpful to remember too that the problem isn’t using petroleum, the problem is burning it.
As long as it’s properly disposed of using petroleum based lubricant doesn’t cause climate change.
Exactly, and petroleum really is a wonder material, it has so many amazing uses besides burning it but instead we decide to do the absolute worst thing with almost all of it
31.5 gallons in a barrel so your math shows 15Mbbl saved
Article says 1.8Mbbl
I'm missing the discrepancy
The article says 1.8 per day
Weird. I wonder why it's a non-standard barrel. 50 gallon drums are the ones that I've seen the most.
While 55 gal drums are the standard physical barrel, barrels as used for oil are their own unit, and oil is rarely in actual physical barrels anymore anyways. It's weird, but it's how the oil industry measures it.
Who only uses 20 gallons a month?
Me probably, I don't usually have to fill up my 15-gallon tank more than once a month. I don't have to drive a lot and my car gets 30mpg when I do.
I am about that. Only use my car for work and picking up kids from aftercare. I would cycle to work but there is a highway that breaks my route.
Well, it's both. From the article, 2-3 wheelers do account for 60% of the drop:
Oh this is so fucking typical. “EV” or electric vehicles never means e-bikes when it would benefit e-bikes (for example, EV subsidies = electric car subsidies) but when it conveniently makes electric cars look better, oh look an e-bike is an EV! 😒
Isn't this article very clearly referring to Asian adoption of scooters, not a bunch of New Yorkers on e-bikes?
does that invalidate the point?
I mean, yes? You're whining about US decision making around subsidies using a portion of the article discussing electric scooters in places like Taiwan. These are different continents and different vehicle types.
A $500 subsidy on electric bicycles would not get Americans out of their cars and onto a bicycle, but it might make cyclists move to electric bikes, which wouldn't be a behavioral change that would impact anything relevant to this study.
I'm on your side, I wish my commute was only a couple miles. I'd ride a bicycle, and I've considered electric motorcycles. But you're barking up the wrong tree, "price" is not what's keeping Americans off of bicycles, electric or otherwise.
why would you think that? I think you're wrong and price is a big factor. cyclists are unlikely to move to ebike because they can already make it work on a regular bike.
Strange that the parent comment is downvoted for highlighting the fact that electric bikes (and scooters & trikes) continue to make more of an impact.
For me personally, since I got my electric bike 2 years ago, I use it at least 90% of the time to commute to work (unless the weather is too miserable).
If I may ask, what bike did you get, and what are the stats for range and speed?
Oh I'd have to check about the stats. I'm in Switzerland, where I use a Winora Tria 8 and usually carry along just above the electrical assistance (unless I go up a mountain), which caps out at 25 km/h.
You should be demanding dedicated and separated bike infrastructure
Chicken and egg problem for sure. I've been trying to convince my community/towns to try to build dedicated safe bike infrastructure for neighborhoods to schools at least. With the hope this can expand from there (plus more people just used to riding bikes!).
And secure bike parking!
Obligatory "your 1% edge case doesn't invalidate the point" comment.
Many many many many people could bike if there was infrastructure.
Again - it's not a once size fits all solution. But you should still advocate for better bike infrastructure where applicable.
There's a lot of FuckCars people who ask for too much. We don't need to go completely car-less, and that's an unattainable goal for a lot of reasons.
Most US cities have <5% of people using bikes as their main commute method, and around 20-30% doing work from home. What can we do to get to 20% of commuters on a bike while maintaining WFH numbers? That alone would be transformative. Tons of cars off the road, and enough bike usage to demand city councils dedicate more to bike infrastructure.
$7k for an ebike? There are tons of good options for <$2000. Hell, you can get budget models on Amazon for around $300.
And most cities have bike lanes on city streets for a reason. However, if you need to commute to work that requires you traversing a highway, then yeah, ebikes are definitely not the solution for you.
When I lived in Eastern Europe, I bought a foldable E-bike for the equivalent of 500 USD from Decathlon.
My commute was 10km one-way. It was better than the bus. The thing still runs after 2 years of intense use and 2 years of complete neglect.
That's like claiming cars are too expensive because you can't afford a Tesla.
I bought a wonderful ebike from REI for $1,300. You don't need to buy the fancy luxury models.
You want an ebike that hits 40mph?
I just bought an E-bike with 40+ mile range for $275. 750W motor and 15Ah 48v battery bike with 7 gears, lights, an LCD, a cargo rack, and fat tires.
It was a good sale
That's nuts, I thought 2k for USA made ebikes was crazy.
I was looking at https://electricbikecompany.com/?avad=334665_e359243b5 personally. I have a good distance from my house to town right now so I haven't sprung on it yet, but the folding one looked interesting to me so I could pack in my car and use it around town when I go
I converted a bike I bought off Craigslist for $200 plus an $850 Bafang kit off AliExpress. Didn't have any experience with bike maintenance beforehand, but did have access to a makerspace with a full bike bench (there's some specialized tools for pulling things out). Didn't have it completely working before winter hit--works as a bike, but the motor assist isn't kicking in for some reason--but I still think it's an option most people could pull off.
I go to work 50/50 by electric car or analog bike. Most of those barrels saved it's me
Still a vehicle in a pure sense.
Yeah which is always weird. How many of those people weren't just riding normal bikes before vs downsizing from a car. I'm on my 3rd EV and would love to bike if it were an option where I live, but if I went with a bike, I'd just be replacing another EV.
Assuming you could feasibly bike, it would probably still be environmentally better to use the bike, mostly because it is more energy efficient at moving a single human places because it doesn't have to move a whole car frame, and in most places a fair amount of power is still from fossil fuels, so less would be needed. Also the other benefits of biking.