Hello all,
So i am in a canundrum. I am going to buy a new car (EV) and of course want to buy something from which the EU benefits. I am considering the Skoda Enyaq and the Cupra Tavascan. Both car brands are part of the VW group, which is a European company. However, I found out that the Cupra is built is Hefei, China, while the Skoda is built in Czechia which is of course in europe. The Cupra is in fact more equipped than the Skoda while also being cheaper. This may of course in part be explained by where they are built. How do you guys feel about this?
Thanks for your insights in advance!
Frankly, if we’re talking EV, then it’s really hard to point out on actually eco-friendly vehicle. It’s just a no-no with their absurd weight and how their battery production hurts the planet.
Hello thank you for tour commentaar, But i dont think this is entirely true. Looking on the internet I find many sources like this one:
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/09/1250212212/ev-batteries-environmental-impact
It is stated here that EVs are indeed worse for the environment when being built, however in the long term they catch up to petrol cars and when disposed off have a net positive effect.
Yes it is true that the car size is a problem. But this is also true for large and heavy combustion engine cars. So as this article also states: it would be best to buy a small EV with limited battery capacity to reduce environmental impact. That being said: I am going to buy a larger one so your argument is at least more true in my case.
Additionally I do think electric cars are the future. But maybe not with Li-ion batteries. We need lighter and more energy dense alternatives which are currently not (yet) available. By investing in our electrical infrastructure now and adopting electric cars now, even though they are only marginally better than combustion engine cars, we are moving to a greener future. By sticking with combustion engine cars, there is only a dead end in 50 something years even if we would ignore climate change.
Also before someone brings up hydrogen cars: hydrogen has its own challenges and H2 cars are in fact also electric cars with electric motors. So hydrogen which is lagging behind in battery development may also profit from the development of EVs. Personnaly I think hydrogen will not become very interesting for consumer cars, but rather for trucks, boats and other heavy duty vehicles.
I end up having this discussion with my brother alot, whether an EV is environmental friendly or not.
Our conclusion each time is that no consumption is, but if you need a car to exist then an EV is the best option. That and the truly environmentally friendly option would be to kill ourselves immediately :)
No denying that