The 'Everything Else' Argument: The Driving Experience and my road test

The driving experience of a vehicle may seem somewhat irrelevant when it comes to trying to work out whether electric cars are a suitable way of adapting to tackle the climate crisis. 

However, it is important to remember that in order to see widespread adoption of a new technology it must be recognised that different groups of people are incentivised by different factors. For example, as with conventional cars, consumers do not always simply opt for the most environmentally friendly vehicle but may rank other characteristics such as performance, practicality and aesthetics higher. That is not to say that these users do not value the environment, it is simply that there is a ‘value-action gap’ between their attitude to the environment and their purchasing action. In fact, a study by Cohen and May suggested that although consumers may have a positive attitude towards environmentally friendly products, it will not affect the buying decision in an estimated 40% of people.

A 2007 study by Lane and Potter suggests that ‘the decision-making process for UK private car purchases is predominantly driven by financial and performance considerations’ and goes as far as to say that ‘Environmental issues play little part in the process and are among the least important considerations for new car buyers’. I’m interested to see if EV purchasers also follow this behavioural trend so I have created a poll and shared it on some EV message boards and forums online.

survey software

We’ll return to it later once it’s had some time to garner a response but as it is now clear that the driving experience and performance of vehicles is particularly important to their success. Therefore, when looking at the potential for an EV takeover, it is crucial that we examine them from this standpoint.

Older electric cars like the G-whiz and Nissan leaf are pretty slow compared to their petrol counterparts. Yet today, some of the fastest accelerating cars in the world are electric, in fact, the cars that are generally accepted to be the top three ‘hyper cars’ today all involve hybrid technology.

From this... 

... To this!

Yes, not fully electric but when the Toyota Prius hybrid came out in 1997, I don’t think we would’ve guessed that a few years later the most expensive and fastest cars produced by Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche would all be hybrids!

Elon Musk has done amazing things with Tesla Motors and now pretty much all major manufacturers are starting to move in that direction. In fact, the fastest accelerating SUV today is an electric car- the Tesla Model X P100D with a 0-60mph time of 2.9 seconds! By comparison, the joint-holders of second place, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S and Bentley Bentayga share a time of 4.2 which is massively slower, in car speak. They also require a combined 10.8 litres and 20 cylinders to do so!  Electric vehicles handle pretty well too, with the low centre of gravity that batteries provide.

But there’s only so far that I can go whilst relying on purely secondary sources...

 

So, my dear readers, as part of my due diligence in writing this blog, I have taken it upon myself to do some primary research! Thanks to the very nice people at BMW, I was able to get myself a BMW i3 for the day with a full tank of gas full charge of batteries. This was my first time in an electric car and I was really taken by the silence (you realise just how loud every other car next to you at the lights is!), the acceleration (the man at the showroom told me it would beat pretty much any other BMW between 0-30mph and I believe him!) and the regenerative braking system which meant that I almost never needed to apply the traditional friction brakes. 

No analog gauges on the dashboard? In fact, where is the dashboard? What's with all the screens? Jokes aside, I was really impressed with the futuristic look, feel and driving experience of the i3!

I was so impressed that I had to take some family and friends for a quick spin to show them this novelty and they all also commented on the futuristic and serene experience of driving in near silence. I was reluctant to give it back and when I had to climb back into my 12-year-old Jeep I did wince when I turned on the engine and imagined the carbon and other pollutants rushing from the exhaust. Every time I slowed down I felt a pang of guilt at the sheer inefficiency of its traditional brakes without a regenerative system… in fact it seems like this experience has forced me to be self-reflective to the point that I seem to be taking on the ‘attributes’ or perhaps that should be ‘skills’ of an ‘Eco-driver’, as explained in Jack Barkenbus’ paper, Eco-driving: An overlooked climate change initiative.

The 'Everything Else' Argument: Sound

So we’ve already been over the emissions argument for EVs- they release fewer harmful emissions so they’re better for the environment and our health.

Today I’m going to focus on the first part of what I’ve called the ‘everything else’ argument which is comprised of:

1. Sound
2. The driving experience
3. Incentives and costs
   
   

Let’s start with sound

Have you heard an electric vehicle recently? No you haven’t because they’re pretty much silent at low speeds (at higher speeds there is some noise from the tires but that’s pretty much unavoidable until hovercars become a thing). 

So quiet, in fact, that for safety reasons, they have small speakers on them that actually make an artificial noise so that pedestrians can hear the EV coming. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that suggests that manufacturers given them a knight-rider-esque silent mode yet!

Not yet unfortunately!

It may not sound like much (excuse the pun!) but sound pollution from road traffic is actually a serious issue for the environment as well as our health. In a study by Shannon et al. it was proven that North American Prairie Dogs that were exposed to road noise were recorded as foraging less and changing their vigilance patterns.

Birds are particularly vulnerable as well, with this 1995 study in the Journal of Applied Ecology stating that ‘(60%) [of the 43 species in the study] showed evidence of reduced density adjacent to roads’. 

Although a study in Nature show that certain species such as the Great Tit, Parus major, are able to adapt to road noise by changing the pitch at which they sing. However, the same study points out that species that are unable to do this could ‘suffer from auditory masking’ which could 'affect breeding opportunities and contribute to a decline in species density and diversity'. Even though Great Tits are able to adapt, this can cause its own set of problems- this reduces song performance and males may be perceived as being of a lower level of attractiveness as a potential mate, explained in great detail by Luther et al., last year. At a scientific scale, this level of adaptation could lead to a change in the speciation between urban and rural individuals if there are increased disparities in their behaviour as detailed in this study in Molecular Ecology. 

I should point out that in my research I did find this article in the Journal of Applied Ecology which suggests that whilst roads do cause a reduced density of birds, this is mainly due to collisions rather than noise. However, this conclusion has a number of caveats including this finding being limited to certain locations and species. However, this paper in the same journal states that when compared to noise load, ‘visibility of cars, direct mortality and pollution are considered unimportant’ for explaining reduced bird densities.

The effects are not just limited to birds and animals either. 

Cohen et al.’s study revealed that increased exposure to road noise at home, impacted the cognitive performance, measured through comprehensive and reading ability, of children. I find this particularly interesting as it suggests that it is not simply that road noise is distracting but that being exposed to road noise actually can have an effect on the brains of children. This joint study by the Institute of Education and South Bank University is specific to London and demonstrates that children in the city’s schools can have their attention, recall and test scores affected by road noise.

It also affects the general population as well. Studies by Stansfeld et al., this one by D Ouis in the Noise and Health journal, Cluydts et al. and this one in a Japanese city by Kawada et al., all reveal the effect that road traffic noise has an effect on insomnia and it doesn’t really come as a surprise; being exposed to the sound of cars makes it harder to sleep.

 I can concur, after moving from a quiet residential road in the suburbs to a room with a window opening onto Gower Street, I found it hard to fall asleep with the clattering engines of buses and black cabs in particular, going past outside.

Putting these studies aside though, I don’t think there’s anyone that would argue that there is anything positive about the noise pollution from engines and a quieter environment would always be welcomed by all! 

That concludes the sound argument, check back soon for a post about the driving experience of EVs (and if I’m lucky a chance to experience an EV first-hand!).

Should We Get Rid of the ICE?

In my last post I suggested that we all stop driving as it’s bad for the environment and our health. But that’s unrealistic. We all need to use a car at some point or another. Driving is a bit of a necessity, in fact, I like driving!

So of course there’s the other option which I purposely avoided mentioning in my previous post. Cars with BATTERIES! Specifically, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) like the new Toyota Prius pure Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) such as the Nissan Leaf and all Teslas and finally Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) that store hydrogen in a tank to create electricity when mixed with air, such as the Toyota Mirai (no you haven’t been in one, there are less than a hundred in the UK at the moment).  

I’m going to avoid talking too much about PHEVs as they are something of a compromise as they still have a traditional engine. Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles are a potential opportunity to be explored in the future but for the time being, I'd like to keep this blog focussed on pure electric vehicles or BEVs although many of the factors that I’m about to mention apply to other EVs as well. 

Now in terms of the arguments for giving up traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles for EVs, there seem to be two main ones.

I’m going to call refer to them as 1. The emissions argument and 2. The ‘everything else’ argument which I’m going to discuss in my next post which will be at some point in the next few days.

First of all, argument number one. Emissions. 

On a basic level, I’ve done an entire blog post (hyperlinked here if you’re not a regular follower) about the negative effects of ICE emissions but the story doesn’t end there.

We should also remember that some of nasty ‘emissions’ from cars are not from the exhaust but from brake pad wear, tires, etc. This article published a couple of years ago by Grigoratos and Martini mentions these ‘nonexhaust emissions’ and this 2012 article by Harrison et al. goes as far as stating that ‘abrasive emissions from brake, road, and tire wear, and the resuspension of materials from the highway surface, which, as a result, make up a similar proportion of the airborne particulate matter (PM) resulting from vehicle use as exhaust emissions’.

The study took place in London and we can combine the results with this study by Boulter et al. that uses a model to estimate PM₁₀ emissions as a result of brake wear in the UK. It becomes apparent that if nonexhaust emissions account for nearly as much PM release as exhaust emissions and brake wear accounts for approximately one third of those nonexhaust emissions, brake usage accounts for, very roughly, a sixth of PM₁₀ emissions from cars.

PM10 emissions from nonexhaust sources make up 'a similar proportion' as those from the exhaust. As the main nonexhaust sources are tyre, brake and road surface wear; we can see from this chart that brake wear is a serious issue when thinking about total PM10 emissions from a car. 

Given what we know about the harmful health effects of particulate matter from my previous post, it’s clear that if we MUST continue using our cars, we should stop braking whilst driving with immediate effect!  

What’s this you say? 

Impractical? 

Well the good news is that EVs can save the day here once again. Not only do they not emit any exhaust emissions, their nonexhaust emissions also aren’t as bad as their traditional ICE counterparts. 

This is because of the regenerative braking system fitted on pretty much every single EV.

This video does a pretty good job of explaining how a regenerative braking system works, but in essence, instead of brake pads clamping onto a brake disc and converting the kinetic energy of the moving car into heat energy and sound energy (SCREEECH!), the spinning axle of the car acts as a generator and the kinetic energy of the rotating axle is used to spin the electric motor and in turn recharge the batteries. 

This results in fewer harmful particulates being released into the environment for us to breathe in. 👍

Let’s return to my original argument on why we need to stop driving. I said there were two main reasons. Firstly, the fact that traditional cars require petrol or diesel which are refined from oil which is a non-renewable resource and secondly, their emissions.

Let’s skip to the second one quickly... electric cars have no exhaust emissions and their nonexhaust emissions are considerably lower than their ICE (internal combustion engine, in case you’ve forgotten) counterparts as a result of technologies such as regenerative braking systems. 

Bearing this information in mind, this means that the global carbon concerns that I raised in the previous post would be somewhat mitigated as EVs don’t directly emit any carbon (but I've come across some stuff that indicates that they may do so indirectly which I will cover in a future post). 

From the point of view of health effects...

I’ve shown that the contents of exhaust emissions can cause serious health effects and since EVs do not give off any exhaust emissions, EVs would certainly be better for our health. Yes, it's true that are other nonexhaust emissions such as tire rubber particles that get given off by EVs also but these amounts are negligible when compared to the other emission sources of exhaust emissions and brake wear.

Therefore, we can clearly see the health benefits of everyone switching to EVs as well.

That concludes the emissions argument… now the other argument on why we should stop driving- using up precious oil. The good news is that as EVs don’t require petrol or diesel but only require electricity, we don’t need to use any oil.

Actually, hang on, oil and other non-renewable resources are sometimes used to generate electricity so that kind of defeats the argument. Damn. That doesn’t help... or can we work around that? More on this in a future post! 

So those are the arguments for giving up cars in general and I’ve shown how EVs can be the answer. Now there’s still one more part of the argument left, the ‘everything else’ argument for why should switch to electric vehicles.

Watch this space!

We must all stop driving immediately!

I think that on a basic level, we all realise that our traditional petrol or diesel powered cars really aren’t that good for the environment. Firstly, they rely on a non-renewable resource (oil) and secondly, they kick out some pretty nasty stuff in the form of emissions (Carbon Dioxide in particular).  

But let’s examine the issue more closely and see quite how much of a problem our vehicles are when it comes to their emissions. According to data released by the Committee on Climate Change surface transport accounts for 23% of total CO₂ emissions. 

Carbon Dioxide emissions by each mode of transport in the UK. As we can see, cars make up the majority of emissions. 

From examining the chart below, we can see that within ‘Surface Transport CO₂ emissions’, cars are responsible for 57% of CO₂ emissions. That’s quite a lot! When we put it back into the context of the country’s total CO₂ emissions it comes to 13%. Even without vans or HGVs, that’s a sizeable chunk of total CO₂ emissions (the blue section of the diagram below).  

With this diagram we can see that cars make up 13% of national Carbon emissions and the majority of surface transport (the coloured section).

 In the US it’s a similar story as this data by the Environmental Protection Agency reveals. Transportation (including aircraft) accounts for 34% and within that light duty vehicles (to all intents and purposes, cars) account for 60%.

Similar charts to the above, for the USA. The chart on the left shows that transportation accounts for 34% and within that, light vehicles make up 60% of that 34% - just over 20% of total national CO2 emissions. 

 If we can all agree that we need to reduce CO₂ emissions (if you disagree then feel free to express yourself in the comments!) then it seems pretty obvious that driving our cars less is one very individual and personal thing we can do so as a society.

 

Now let’s look at it on a more local level. 

Let’s use the example of London as it’s where I’ve grown up and gone to university. If you head over to the excellent London Air page by the Environmental Research Group at King’s College London, it becomes immediately obvious that there are increased pollution levels around roads. 

The darker areas indicate higher levels of pollution. It's immediately apparent that a lot of pollution must come from cars!

From a health point of view, inhaling the Carbon Dioxide emissions from cars isn’t that much of a worry. The real concern here are other gases and particulates such as Nitrogen Dioxide, Ozone and PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ particulates which are known to have an effect on health within London.

This report by the Air Quality Expert Group does a great job of explaining the various health effects and origins of what we can refer to as ‘anthropogenic’ particles (particulate matter from human sources such as vehicles and factories). 

To summarise, the main mobile source of particulate matter is road transport and health effects include respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses as well as general ill health in more vulnerable members of society- those with pre-existing conditions as well as the elderly and children. 

Furthermore, this lengthy report by the Royal College of Physicians also mentions air pollution as playing a factor in obesity, infant mortality, pregnancy troubles, diabetes and cancer.

But we don’t even have to rely on this data and warnings about a rising pollution death toll in London such as this report by City hall that puts it at 9,000! I remember when I moved from a green suburb into the heart of London, I found the pollution so bad that I had to resort to going for runs in the middle of the night when pollution levels seemed to be slightly lower as I simply found it easier to breathe. (Spoiler: I was probably right).

So clearly, what comes out of our cars’ exhausts is nasty stuff! If we stopped driving our cars there would not only be environmental benefits for the planet as a whole but also more localised benefits to our personal health.

When we also consider that we are apparently going to run out of oil (or not, depending on who you believe) it becomes obvious that we must all stop driving immediately. End of blog.

Or maybe not...

I’ve had a change of heart

I know I said that I’m going to be going to be looking at some familiar environmental change topics with a slightly contrarian point of view but after doing some soul searching and receiving some feedback on my blog I’ve decided that I’m going to take a more selective approach and look at one topic in a little bit more detail.

I’ve been hearing for ages how cars are damaging to the environment and that electric vehicles are a possible alternative. I’m actually really interested in electric vehicles but I don’t know much about them!

So for the rest of this blog I’m going to be researching, learning and writing about Electric Vehicles and trying to work out if they’re a viable alternative to traditional vehicles as a way for us to reduce our carbon footprint and make a shift towards renewable resources. 

Check back very soon!