Veteran actor and our favourite Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson’s opinion about the electric vehicles is crossed but the point is What is the Truth? Let’s seek….
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Rowan Atkinson in The Guardian
The world famous Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson has recently written an article in The Guardian on the 3rd June ( slightly amended later), 2023 that he felt that he has been duped by the expectation and the early adoption of electric vehicles. He clarifies his claim by mentioning that the real life experience of using electric vehicles and the affect it does otherway to the environment is far away from the idealised theory of using electric vehicles for sustainability and green future.
The Mr. Bean question on the future of EVs is shared by most of the ordinary people like us.
If You want to read the full article, READ IT HERE: I LOVE ELECTRIC VEHICLES……
Mr. Bean: Point to note
Atkinson gives a few points in his article,
Firstly,The manufacturing of electric vehicles,mainly the Lithium batteries makes a heavy toll on the environment and the batteries last merely about 10 years.
Secondly,The greenhouse gas produced during the making of EVs are nearly 70 percent higher than the gasoline cars.
Thirdly, the unusually heavy Lithium ion batteries are making the trucks absolutely heavy and and bulky that outweighs the benefit of using them.
Fourthly, he says that hydrogen fuelled cars have more potential than the Lithium battery cars.
Fifthly, he encourages to use the old petrol cars as long as possible, though he voted for public transports as best way to control emission.
Atkinson vs Experts
SIMON EVANS
After Rowan Atkinson’s article was published, experts like Simon Evans, Deputy and senior policy editor of Carbon Brief responded that Atkinson was wrong “who repeats a series of repeatedly debunked talking points, often used by those seeking to delay action on the climate crisis”.
He also says that electric vehicles already offers significant benefits to the environment. Also, Lithium batteries are not so short lived and sometimes designed to outlast the vehicle. Also the alternatives suggested by Atkinson is not widely available and less beneficial.
Evans’ analysis says that electric vehicles are expected to reduce emissions about 76% compared to petrol cars by the year 2030 which at present is nearly about 65% whereas hydrogen fuelled vehicles would reduce emission about 56% by 2030, which is contrary to Atkinson’s expectations.
Evans explains that after four years of coming on the road a Electric car will have paid off all it’s carbon debt but a petrol car would continue to produce emission as long as it lasts.
You can read the FULL ARTICLE OF SIMON EVANS HERE
AUKE HOEKSTRA
Auke Hoekstra of Eindhoven University of Technology claims in Twitter “EVs use 4x less energy and that energy can come from electricity that is becoming increasingly low carbon”
He also says that ” I’m not entirely convinced Atkinson is being honest here, because he is precise in cherry picking all the anti-EV tropes, including citing an extremely conservative outlier study that @MLiebreich and I picked apart when we did #Astongate”
He claims that one can easily make electric motors without using rare earth metal otherwise claimed by Atkinson.
“The next generation EV batteries combined with the lighter drivetrain will actually make EVs lighter than combustion cars long before 2030”,Hoekstra says.
Hoekstra being an expert in this field claims that hydrogen fuelled engine is still a combustion engine and requires 5 times more energy, and the car will be heavier and still emit unhealthy particles.
Finally he says ” Now I don’t blame Rowan Atkinson that much. He’s an actor, comedian and writer. And the world is full of outspoken people with nonsensical opinions that they swear by”. He blames The Guardian newspaper for publishing the content having misinformation.
For the EV lovers
Please don’t sell your EVs but Use Public transport as much as You can.
Our favourite Mr. Bean is not a demon 👿 who wants to kill the human race with his pernicious plan but he like an ordinary person asks his question. Sometimes I also get disheartened with information of mining for Lithium around the world. Rowan Atkinson gets his answer and We also.
Let’s hope for a better world, more sociable with the more using of public vehicles and greener with more efficient Electric vehicles and trucks on the roads around us.
Wish You all a sustainable life.
(Disclaimer: All the images used in the article are never intended for copyright violation. We acknowledge sincere gratitude to all the image owners)
There’s a lot of shite going round about EVs and some of it has stuck to Mr Bean’s shoe.