A Dirty Little Secret?


This thought ties back in part to an article I wrote earlier:  https://oldandireland.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-pessimistic-speculation-on-future.html
 

 


 

At present, we are being sold the myth that if we all swap to some sort of electric car, then personal transportation will continue into the future, just in a quieter and less polluting form.  Don’t believe this!  Cars have at least one dirty little secret that the environmentalists have not yet talked about, and it alone may signal the end of mass car ownership.

There are currently 38.7 million cars in the UK and 2.68 million in the Republic of Ireland.  According to google, UK motorists cover an average 7900 miles annually while their Irish counterparts drive further with a 10,500 mile annual average.  Now consider the tyres on all of these vehicles.  If tyres are replaced at around the 30, 000 mile mark my quick calculation estimates that we are using about 11.1 million car tyres in the UK and Ireland every year.  OK, these old tyres are recycled, but what about the tread that has worn off?  It goes straight into the environment.

Tyres are made from a mixture of materials; a large part though is synthetic rubber.  This, like all other petroleum-based polymers is a type of plastic.  Wikipedia tells me that about 15 billion kilograms of rubber is produced globally each year, two thirds, (10 billion Kg), of which are synthetic.  A fair proportion of this is likely to be for tyres, and thus a smaller, but still sizeable proportion will eventually wear off and go who knows where.  Look at the current outcry about micro plastics in the environment.  While the uproar currently centres on plastic bags and even on things like straws and the plastic stems in cotton buds, it can only be a matter of time before someone raises tyre wear as a source of micro plastic in our environment.  There is no solution to this issue except to have less tyres, and this means less vehicles whether powered by electric or fossil fuels.  The end of mass personal transportation is, I believe, in sight. 

You have been warned!
If you have a good counter-argument, I would love to hear it.


It's good to be a pessimist: you can never be disappointed.  Optimism can only ever lead to being let down.   ;-)

Comments

  1. Smoking Scot13 November 2019 at 17:31

    Good point, except most tyres are shot long before 30k. I'd venture most vans and trucks are down to their wear marks by 18k.

    And there are a stack of other reasons why we're being conned, as sott points out:

    https://www.sott.net/article/423134-Help-Mother-Nature-Dont-drive-electric-cars-ignore-paper-bags-forget-about-organic-food

    Oh and the "smart handles" on Tesla junk turned out to be the reason why one guy was burned to death in his car. He hit a tree, the batteries self ignited and though the emergency services got to him with stacks of time, they could not grip the door handle, nor break the glass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cas14 November 2019 at 10:31

      Hi Scot,

      I was trying to be generous on tyre wear so that no one could accuse me of being too paranoid, but you are right, in my own experience, tyres are extremely unlikely to last for 30,000 miles. Motorcycle tyres, because they have to work with a very small contact area on the road are likely to only make 6,500 miles or so before replacement. Sports bike tyres may last for half that figure if used hard.

      As for the SOTT site, I'm sure there is some good stuff there but there is a lot of mystical bull as well. I'm not sure that I could be bothered sorting the actual science from the pretend stuff.

      Delete

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