cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/36667361

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/73150694

Electric vehicle sales are surging in Australia, powering a transition that goes beyond fuel savings to become an unexpected tool to combat high inflation.

The abrupt shift away from petrol and diesel vehicles, accelerated by elevated fuel costs caused by the Iran conflict, is being supported by an influx of cheaper EVs that is reducing associated costs such as insurance.

  • PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    When solar energy is low, the energy is likely to come from a plant powered using fossil fuels. So instead of tanking LPG at a station, it’s converted to electricity and transported to a charger. Internal combustion engines can also run on alternative fuels, but the practice isn’t that common (think of running a diesel engine on vegetable oil); or may be further optimized to run extremely lean (requiring less visits to a gas station: if the fuel doesn’t degrade through volatility of octane-increasing additives).

    I’m not really trying to make the argument that ICE-powered vehicles are superior to EVs (or the other way around for that matter), but rather that modern vehicles (regardless of energy source) are fundamentally anti-consumer (dealership lock-in, expensive replacement assemblies, on-board surveillance-tech monitoring and sharing user-data, etc.), compared to legacy vehicles (which just happen to be ICE-powered).

    If it was the other way around, ICE-power vehicles would catch the heat instead; if used to force a change in fleet, arguably for economic reasons and increased control (to manufacturers, and by extension legislators and insurance companies). And this isn’t just limited to vehicles, but also insulation of homes, how energy is metered therein (“smart” meters: allowing for disproportionality in rates), or replacement appliances utilizing that energy (supposedly in more energy-efficient ways: if working in optimal conditions).

    • Schemen110676@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Just because two things happen at the same time doesn’t meant they are connected. So why bring it up at all?

      And yes, this is going to get worse before it gets better (if at all) but still unrelated to the drive technology.

      Because surprised surprised cars are replaced at a faster rate than technology necessary