Q&A: Should I buy an electric car?

Since the Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act with rebates for electric cars, I wonder if this is the time to make the switch.

Q: Since the Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act with rebates for electric cars, I wonder if this is the time to make the switch. I like my car and it’s still in good shape, but shouldn’t I be driving an EV to do my part in reducing climate change?

A: This is one of those questions where the answer is, “It depends.” EVs are the future. If you need to buy a car and have the money, you should, yes, buy an EV. (Sad, isn’t it, that Elon Musk will profit if you buy a Tesla? But they are apparently very good cars.)

On the other hand, if your current car is doing the job, there’s a solid argument for not buying an EV now. EV technology continues to improve, and prices will come down.

Perhaps most important is a factor that politicians ignore: if you switch to an EV, you’ll be selling or trading in your current car, and someone is going to keep driving it.

This is a point I’ve been asking car experts and economists about since the days of Cash for Clunkers: When deciding to buy an electric car, how do I factor in what will happen to my old car? Everyone says it’s a great question, but no one has had an answer.

The economists pointed out that new products are more efficient to use and often require less energy and water and fewer raw materials in their manufacture, and that the older products can be sold in the used market.

That’s true, but it wasn’t an answer to the question we’re asking.

Of course the old car won’t just disappear from the planet. Someone else will drive it, using gasoline. At the end of its life, it’ll go to a junkyard. What then? How much energy will it take to process and recycle the materials and how much pollution will be created?

As we work towards a transition to renewable energy, it is easy to focus on shiny new cars and sleek electric trains without also working out details for disposal, re-use, and re-manufacture. For example, we’re talking about building high-speed train lines in the United States. But we also have a large network of old train lines. Some of my colleagues would like to rip them all up and replace them with electric trains. They don’t want to hear about modest upgrades that would let us get passenger service going quickly. And no one seems to be thinking through how to divide funds between the “state of good repair” backlog and new, visionary projects.

We can “go big” with these recovery bills but there still won’t be enough money for everything we’d like to see done, especially when infrastructure has been neglected for decades. (Believe it or not, many of the tunnels, bridges, and railway lines in the United States are close to 100 years old. I’m all for making things last, but this is ridiculous.)

Does it make sense to spend $43 billion (yes, billion) on repairs to the Northeast Corridor train line between Washington and Boston without simultaneously making some of the changes required actually to modernize, including the transition to renewable energy?

What happens to the gas-guzzlers, diesel trains, unneeded planes, and out-of-date fridges?

Once again, we’re focusing on the immediate action, the purchase or installation or urgent repair, and ignoring everything else. This won’t take us to a sustainable future. The concept of a circular economy and life-cycle analysis need to become part of our thinking, with tools accessible to ordinary citizens and used by policy makers.

When it comes to automobiles, the greener option is probably to keep driving whatever you drive now while reducing your overall mileage by carpooling, walking, or riding a bike, and taking buses and trains whenever possible. But if you need a new car, or are definitely planning to buy one, there’s really no question: you should invest in the future with an EV.

PS: After the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, I wasn’t the only one wondering about this. Here’s one piece: “My dear Prius, after 163,000 miles, you and I still aren’t done.”