Nearly half of new passenger cars in EU electrified -ACEA::Sales of electric cars in the European Union were almost half of all new passenger car registrations in the EU between January and November 2023 and already crossed the halfway mark in the month of November alone, data showed on Wednesday. Electrified vehicles - either fully electric models, plug-in hybrids or full hybrids - accounted for over 47.6% of all new passenger car registrations in the EU as of November, up from 43% in the same period last year, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said. New-car registrations in the EU increased 6.7% in November, the 16th consecutive month of growth, with a year-on-year rise of 13.3% in the registration of electric vehicles.
It depends on if you already have a car or not. Using a car for your daily commute has other personal and societal impacts that I’m not going to get into here.
Watch these videos by Not Just Bikes for some information why car commuting is a bad idea: https://youtu.be/F4kmDxcfR48 https://youtu.be/kYHTzqHIngk
Let’s assume that you don’t already own a car for car commuting, and you only use said car for road trips; It’s pretty likely that you would spend at least 4000 euros amortized on repairs, insurance, and taxes for a single road trip. The train is a lot cheaper.
Jesus, who buys a car just for road trips? Yes, the thing no one does is stupid. Can we go back to reality now?
Well that was my point. Driving only seems cheaper because you spend so much money commuting with a car already. People who live in cities that aren’t car-dependent save money by only spending 40 euros on high speed trains when they want to travel long-distance.
Yes, car is a luxury. It let’s you go anywhere they want when they want. People could do just fine without cars if only they limited themselves to daily commutes instead of going hiking, shopping or to that nice restaurant just out of town. It would also be cheaper not to do any of that. But people like comfort of driving so they buy cars and once they have a car they use it to go places. And once they have a car it’s cheaper than train. We agree.
There’s tons of ways to get around without the economic, psychological, and societal downsides of owning a private car.
https://youtu.be/OObwqreAJ48
I’m rich enough to own a car, but I don’t. I prefer the train, my cargo bike, and car share services.
Yes, I know people will not die without a car. It’s just more convenient. Is this really so hard to understand? I could spend hours hitchhiking and literally hiking every time I’m going climbing in the middle of nowhere (which is every week) but it’s more convenient to drive. I wouldn’t die if I stopped climbing but I like it. So yeah, I own a car.