© PublicDomainPictures
It's a question that we ask ourselves, and which often gives rise to heated debates among fans of the electric car, as well as its detractors.
< p>This is the big question asked by people trying to adopt an ecological stance regarding their use of the automobile, apart from the usual questions about autonomy, price, and everything else. then.
Isn't it better not to create a new car from scratch with polluting elements when it is possible to simply continue to use a car whose production carbon footprint was amortized a long time ago?
A complicated thought
Of course, if a universal answer existed regarding the question of changing a vehicle we would all already know it. So, it seems obvious that for people who have an old car, but in good working order and which consumes little fuel, it is a good ideato wait before making the transition to an electric vehicle.
On the other hand, continuing to use an old, poorly maintained car that consumes a lot of fuel while you are driving dozens of thousands of kilometers per year seems to bea bad ecological decision…
More polluting production for electricity
Indeed, the footprint manufacturing of electric vehicles is greater than that of thermal vehicles, despite the fact that the former have much fewer parts than the latter.
The battery of a Citroën ë-C3 © Citroën
You probably know what the reasons are: the famous batteries which are made up of rare minerals whose extraction is quite devastating such as cobalt or lithium. However, Jarod Kelly, vehicle systems analyst engineer at the Argonne National Library, explains the concept of a tipping point in the life of electric vehicles. According to him, it would be around 70,000 kilometers traveled with an EV, “where the emissions savings offset the manufacturing footprint”.
You should know that when it comes to emissions, unlike thermal cars, electric vehicles have no carbon footprint. It therefore represents a considerable ecological advantage for people traveling a lot of kilometers each year.
The ecological transition towards electric vehicles is mandatory
In any case, trading in a thermal car in exchange for an electric car seems to be a fate that will be experienced by most polluting vehicles. Indeed, the decisions taken by the French government and more generally by Europe are pushing for the ecological transition.
This will soon no longer be a choice, given that the number of cities banning the circulation of polluting vehicles is only increasing from year to year. Unfortunately, we must not forget that if the French automobile fleet is aging, it is also because the price of vehicles is only increasing sharply, especially since the appearance of electric vehicles.
So if it does indeed represent a good ecological alternative for heavy drivers, its purchase is only barely within the reach of middle-class French people.
The best thing is still not to have a car of the all…
This is probably the answer that we don't want to read as the use of a car is a comfort on which our species and our economy largely rely, but it is yet the case.
Followers of the series The Good Placewill quickly understand the dilemma here, knowing that to be as green as possible, each solution always has advantages and disadvantages, the miracle solution does not exist.
The It is even better to favor alternative transport solutions such as walking, cycling, or public transport. Obviously, this still needs to remain possible, many French people are still dependent on the use of a personal vehicle to get to their place of work.
So, what is- what do we do with our old car?
If we still had to summarize an answer in one sentence, it would be that keeping an old vehicle that consumes little fuel seems a good idea for small drivers, and a switch to electric for motorists who do the most driving would be the most ecological thing in our current situation.
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