Longer-Lasting Cars Are Key To Saving The Environment!
BMW's sustainability leader expresses the importance of this change.
Electric car sales increase each year. By 2029 they are anticipated to take up most of the vehicles on the roads, yet drivers are still avoiding the crucial switch.
BMW’s head of sustainability, Monika Dernai, announced this week that if we make motor vehicles last longer, we decrease environmental impact and waste. Even though the conversation continues about how to combat this, countries are favoring newer, electric cars more. However, we have yet to find a solution to how manufacturing them impacts the environment.
“We really need to think about prolonging the life of cars; not having a used car market where you sell cars to each other, but maybe take a car and extend its lifespan - The idea could be that you could freshen up the interior.”
Based on the report by the EPA in 2020, 27 percent of America’s greenhouse gasses were produced by transport alone. Replacing fuel vehicles with electric is vital, but more importantly, they NEED to be long-lasting.
However, there are recurring, common reasons why people are reluctant to make the significant change:
- “Range anxiety” - the fear that your battery will drain before arriving at your destination.
- Not being able to find charging stations.
- That it’ll take a long time to charge your vehicle.
- Higher upfront costs - with over 40 percent reporting this as their reason not to purchase.
While these are understandable concerns, advocates are reassuring drivers that charging the vehicle is usually completed during other activities, such as; plugging it in overnight, during your shopping trips, or dining out.
The reality is that the leading cause of not purchasing electric vehicles is misinformation and ignorance. Unfortunately, people are looking into the wrong information, with others simply not wanting to look into the right ones.
A Ford study emerged that 42 percent of Americans believe the vehicles still require fuel, with 90 percent of Americans and Europeans convinced they have slow acceleration. Yet, in reality, the Tesla Model S can go from 0-60 in 2.4 seconds - the fastest accelerating sedan worldwide!
Eighty-eight percent of Americans have said they refuse to buy an electric in the Northern climate because of ‘rumors of range loss in the cold weather, with 65 percent not choosing ‘an electric powertrain for an all-wheel-drive vehicle. Finally, 42 percent of U.K. drivers are convinced electric cars can’t go through car washes…they can!
Volvo provided an example; ‘steel accounts for an average of 33 percent of its vehicles’ carbon footprint, and the global steel industry accounts for seven percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need new skill sets in the aftermarket and to design cars that the seat can be removed, and a fresh seat can be moved in - then it’s a used car that looks like a new car - It can have the same owner, who then doesn’t buy a new car, but we still have a business model as BMW, and the whole of society benefits from that” Dernai explains. “Can we actually just move everybody to public transport? I think the answer is no. You’re worried about the public transport in the U.K., but if you look at the U.S., it’s even more desolate. So I think there’s still a market for cars out there.”
The ideal image would be people using public transport in bigger cities, but to some, this causes an inconvenience.
Overall electric cars are one of the easiest ways to help our environment. So will you be making the change?
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