{"id":58484,"date":"2021-07-04T07:16:32","date_gmt":"2021-07-04T12:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58484"},"modified":"2021-07-04T07:16:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T12:16:32","slug":"cramming-cities-full-of-electric-vehicles-means-were-still-depending-on-cars-and-thats-a-huge-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58484","title":{"rendered":"Cramming cities full of electric vehicles means we\u2019re still depending on cars \u2014 and that\u2019s a huge\u00a0problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"magazine\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"content-sidebar grid-four large-grid-four grid-last\">\n<section class=\"slot\" data-id=\"16\">\n<div class=\"promo\">\n<div class=\"jss138\">\n<div class=\"MuiBox-root-140 jss141 jss139\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-twelve large-grid-eleven\">\n<div class=\"top\">\n<aside class=\"grid-two content-social-distribution\">\n<h3><span style=\"color: #222222;\">Cramming cities full of electric vehicles means we\u2019re still depending on cars \u2014 and that\u2019s a huge problem<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-ten large-grid-nine grid-last content-body content entry-content instapaper_body inline-promos\">\n<p>This week, the NSW government announced almost A$500 million towards boosting the uptake of electric vehicles. In its new\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsw.gov.au\/initiative\/nsw-governments-electric-vehicle-strategy\">electric vehicle strategy<\/a>, the government will waive stamp duty for cars under $78,000, develop more charging infrastructure, offer rebates to 25,000 drivers, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Given the transport sector is Australia\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.environment.gov.au\/system\/files\/resources\/6686d48f-3f9c-448d-a1b7-7e410fe4f376\/files\/nggi-quarterly-update-mar-2019.pdf\">second-largest polluter<\/a>, it\u2019s a good thing Australian governments are starting to plan for a transition to electric vehicles (EVs).<\/p>\n<p>But transitioning from cities full of petrol-guzzling vehicles to cities full of electric ones won\u2019t address all of the environmental and social problems associated with car dependence and mass manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s look at these problems in more detail, and why public transport really is the best way forward.<\/p>\n<p>EVs do have environmental advantages over conventional vehicles. In particular, they generate less carbon emissions during their lifetime. Of course, much of the emissions reductions will depend on how much electricity\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/climate-explained-the-environmental-footprint-of-electric-versus-fossil-cars-124762\">comes from renewable sources<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But carbon emissions are only one of the many problems associated with the dominance of private cars as a form of mobility in cities.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with a few of the social issues. This includes the huge amount of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apo.org.au\/sites\/default\/files\/resource-files\/2013-11\/apo-nid59916.pdf\">space devoted to car driving<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.landusepol.2016.10.044\">parking<\/a>\u00a0in our neighbourhoods. This can\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/reclaiming-the-streets-we-all-can-have-a-say-in-the-new-normal-after-coronavirus-137703\">crowd out other forms of land use<\/a>, including other more sustainable forms of mobility such as walking and cycling.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/408067\/original\/file-20210624-15-1imch3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\" alt=\"Men stand around a car\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"enlarge_hint\"><\/div><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">NSW Minister for Energy and Environment Matt Kean inspects an electric car following major budget announcements on electric vehicles.<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"attribution\"><span class=\"source\">AAP Image\/Joel Carrett<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are the financial and mental health costs of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/australian-city-workers-average-commute-has-blown-out-to-66-minutes-a-day-how-does-yours-compare-120598\">congestion<\/a>, as well, with Australian city workers spending, on average, 66 minutes getting to and from work each day.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitre.gov.au\/statistics\/safety\">Injuries and fatalities on roads<\/a>\u00a0are also increasing, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11524-009-9433-9\">inactivity and isolation<\/a>\u00a0associated with driving can impact our physical health.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cramming cities full of electric vehicles means we\u2019re still depending on cars \u2014 and that\u2019s a huge problem This week, the NSW government announced almost A$500 million towards boosting the uptake of electric vehicles. In its new\u00a0electric vehicle strategy, the government will waive stamp duty for cars under $78,000, develop more charging infrastructure, offer rebates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[13275,16000,1647,31405,8487],"class_list":["post-58484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-evs","tag-finite-resources","tag-kurt-iveson","tag-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58485,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58484\/revisions\/58485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}