Electric cars

“We know we need to cut emissions,” he said Monday at an outdoor news conference at Royal Roads University in the suburban Victoria-area community of Colwood.

“We know we need to reduce pollution and one of the best ways of doing that is to get more clean cars on the road.”

Last week's federal budget placed an emphasis on transitioning to the green economy, which included expanding the availability of zero-emission vehicles and charging stations, Trudeau said.

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/trudeau-expected-to-make-announcement-on-electric-vehicle-infrastructure-576385262.html

Dear PM Trudeau

Yes, we need to cut emissions, but no, one of the best ways to do that is NOT to get more clean cars on the road; it is to REDUCE the number of cars on the road and get those drivers into buses, trains, trams, and onto bicycles or just using their feet.

Please do invest in electric vehicles but put that priority BELOW investing in public transportation and active transportation.

Why is mode switch from ICE vehicle to electric not the answer*?

Electric cars are heavier than internal combustion engine cars. This matters one two counts: the damage inflicted in a collision is greater at the same speed; and the road damage caused by regular use is greater. The latter should greatly concern Manitobans whose roads are an abysmal checkerboard of potholes with which our governments are utterly unable to keep up. 

“If one vehicle carries a load of 1,500 pounds per axle and another carries a load of 3,000 pounds on each axle, the road damage caused by the heavier vehicle is not twice as much, but 2 to the 4th power as much (2x2x2x2 = 16 times as much road damage as the lighter vehicle).”

https://www.denenapoints.com/relationship-vehicle-weight-road-damage/

*Electric vehicles do have advantages; this is not to oppose their growing popularity, only to point out the advantages must be considered in the context of the disadvantages, and to underscore that they are *a* solution, not *the* solution, so they must be only one strategy to improve the situation. 

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