this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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Electric Vehicles
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What my 40yo diesel has going for it is that it already exists. The production cost has been paid for already. I'm fully prepared to buy an eV or hybrid when it dies but in the meantime it's what I've got. Plus I don't actually drive very much.
I made the calculation with a 10 years old Civic vs new EV once and the math came out in favor of the EV after a few years anyway, especially if you get green electricity where you live... Now with a 40 years old diesel it's even worse considering how much diesel emissions equipment has improved since it was built. There's a reason why some cities like Paris are completely banning older diesels...
You have to take into consideration that the total emissions from your already existing ICE vehicle keep increasing very quickly over time where an EV has a higher total when comparing two new vehicles, but then the EV has so much lower emissions during usage that they catch up very quickly, even if the electricity they use comes from coal powered generators. Hell, the average big truck probably release as much emissions every year as what it took to produce it in the first place...
Diesel has more NOx emissions and significantly more particulate emissions than cars running on gasoline, which is why cities are banning older vehicles running on Diesel. They're harmful to people's health, especially if they lack modern filters.
For CO2 though, Diesel usually runs miles around gasoline. That's why the EU has favored Diesel engines over gasoline one's since signing and ratifying the 1997 Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse emissions.
CO2 is directly related to fuel economy (no filtration of it) which is why diesel do better than gas. OP has a 40 years old diesel truck though, I wouldn't expect it to be getting that great fuel mileage, especially not if they're from the US.
Fair enough, older cars absolutely have worse fuel economy. I wonder how much this is offset by US trucks growing in size and weight though - a modern gasoline truck may even have worse fuel economy despite 40 years of advances. Although that's not a high margin to clear to be honest.