-
This is the bit I don't quite get - how does one find out whether keeping their/an older car on the road and reducing demand for new cars is more or less beneficial than buying a new hybrid?
That's not the hard bit.
If you have an old car and the choice is buying a new hybrid or keeping your old car then while it is highly likely that the new car will produce less emissions while running it will take fucking forever for that minor difference to offset the the shit-tonnes of emissions created to put that new car in your hands.
That's straightforward.
What is complicated is working out the knock on consumer purchases:
- Are you getting rid of your car because it doesn't work or because you were going to buy a new car anyway?
- Is your car being scrapped, or is someone buying it?
Is the buyer getting their first car, or replacing a worse polluting one? - etc.
If you want a simple rule to follow; buying anything new is bad.
- Are you getting rid of your car because it doesn't work or because you were going to buy a new car anyway?
hugo7-
This is true of hybrids but it’s been proven, again and again, that BEVs overcome manufacturing output and grid output of greenhouse gases within 2 years of purchase vs a standard diesel from even 3 or 4 years ago.
Making the switch is empirically better for the environment than any other option with the exception of literally scrapping that BEV inside 2 years.
Soul
This is the bit I don't quite get - how does one find out whether keeping their/an older car on the road and reducing demand for new cars is more or less beneficial than buying a new hybrid?
I drive a 2006 transporter at the mo and while I've no plans or ability to change it to something cleaner I often get stuck in this dilemma