Quote:
Originally Posted by Dadhawk
There's another factor that fits into this discussion that will hit at some point when talking costs. Highway taxes.
Right now, part of the reason electricity looks cheaper is because its getting a free ride, literally. Wet fuel cars are still paying for roads electron fueled cars are driving on. When electrics hit the point where they are a significant number, that will have to change. Either your power bill will go up, or they will convert all modes of transportation to some type of usage tax based on miles driven.
The average in the US is around $0.48 per gallon but it varies by state. Note the rate shown doesn't include the Federal $0.1840 per gallon.
I'm all for alternative fuels, but you need to have a level playing field.
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To be fair, 99% of road wear is caused by heavy trucking. That's the real villain if you want to talk about a free ride, not a small number of light passenger cars that are avoiding a couple hundred dollars in road taxes every year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k
I hate to be the one to explain this, but particulate pollution, like what you can get from diesel exhaust, especially outside of the US (which has the strictest standard), is by far considerably worse than as you put it, the smaller emission compounds we're not seeing. There are proven direct links connecting particulate pollution to respiratory ailments and cancer. Meanwhile a properly functioning modern gasoline powered automobile emits CO2, water vapor and trace amounts of CO - none of which are harmful to humans.
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I'm not talking about C02 and water vapor. I'm talking about particle size. The "black soot" that you can see is what everyone makes a big deal out of but it is relatively easy for the lungs to clean out, if they even make it there to begin with without being caught by mucous or nostril hairs.
Also, a gasoline engine does not emit only what you listed. It isn't by coincidence that a large percentage of the compounds they emit are the same or similar to the air that they suck in to begin with. However, it is a non-argument to assume that because what went in came back out (which has to happen by the way), that nothing else came from what was injected in from the fuel lines. Assuming that the product as a whole is safe to breathe because it is mostly made up of the same compounds as clean air is similarly flawed.