Speaking as a 2004 Prius daily driver, the Toyota approach works. And I guarantee I'm a hell of a lot more "environmentally friendly" than anyone who commissioned literal tons of metal to be dug out of the earth to make their "green" new Tesla.
https://www.tesla.com/impact (see page 22)
And that's not even mentioning that in 20 years we won't be mining materials out of the ground anymore, will just be recycling existing battery materials
If the electricity is from coal, the break-even is after 5 years; even then, the lifetime emission of the EV is not even 10% less than that of the conventional gas car.
If the electricity is from hydro and other 100% non-fossil fuel renewables, than the break-even is even shorter, under a year, and over the lifetime the emissions are about 70%~80% less overall (and the longer the car is driven compared to a conventional gas car, more than 13 years, the greater the reduction in lifetime emissions)
All data from this source:
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/ELECTRIC-VEHICLES/EMISSIONS...
(Full webpage, for context: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/when-d...)
1. Conflict of interest. Is there any alternative report?
2. 2 years is vague, do we have it in kms?
3. Which car is it against? How does it compare with Prius 2024?
In fact, reading through the lines of Tesla's own fluff piece, in places like China the Prius is net-environmentally positive even year by year as compared to the Model 3. China has the most emissions of any country, so that's a pretty big caveat to simply ignore. But again, fluff piece by the fluff company.
E.g., the first Prius was released in 1997:
The average BEV is lasting just as long as any other car on the road and the used market is not filled with "broken EVs requiring expensive maintenance". The opposite seems to statistically be the case: the used market for EVs is "barren" because the cars don't need expensive maintenance and often stay with their first owners for longer and when they do move to new owners don't often go through the traditional used market because they don't need as much maintenance.
You've been lead to believe some interesting misinformation. Toyota themselves have been a source of some of that misinformation, which is further unhelpful.
- the used car industry is just barren post-pandemic. Prices are up and inventory is super low [1]
- EVs are generally not that old! Why put a BEV up as a used car when it's just a few years old? The average age of a used car is 6.1 years (according to CBC in Sep-2023) [2]. Further, that 'used car' age is up from 4 years, which further indicates the first point that the used car market is very short on supply. Most of Tesla's sales have been in just the last 4 years [3], Tesla represents a lot of BEV car sales in the US (going from memory, it was about 75% and is down to around 55%). In such a short amount of time, most BEVs are essentially still brand new. Thus, BEVs not being in the 'used' market is somewhat expected since they are half the age of the average used car, most of them are under 4 years old.
Thus, their lack of presence in the used car market could easily be more a function of their age (relatively brand new) compared to: "don't often go through the traditional used market because they don't need as much maintenance."
[1] https://www.cbtnews.com/the-state-of-used-car-prices-why-are...
[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/3-things-to-consider-when-bu...
[3] https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/22/tesla-just-passed-4-mil...
Teslas haven't even existed as a car producing company for as long as most cars last, Toyotas in particular. Model 3's certainly not.
> The used market for EVs is "barren"
I just pulled up hundreds in a 10 mile radius of me on craigslist. Probably most needing $20,000 battery services.
> You've been lead to believe some interesting misinformation
No, you.
Then why did they go all in on hydrogen cars?
https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/analysis-it-is-now...