The climate benefits of retiring an operational combustion engine vehicle

ttoomuchtodo about 3 hours ago 19 commentsRead Article on science.org

FR version is available. Content is displayed in original English for accuracy.

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion Sentiment

38% Positive

Analyzed from 898 words in the discussion.

Discussion (19 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

twobitshifter•about 2 hours ago

It looks like they have the BEV lasting just as long as ICE car without any battery replacement. Has it turned out that way? Seems like owning an electric car for 18 years really hasn’t been a thing since the model s was released in 2012, but is it projected to last that long.

FabCH•about 1 hour ago

As a data point: I’m at year 8 of Model X 100kWh with basically 0% capacity loss. If it exists at all, it’s less than 1-2%, so less than what I can reasonably measure with just the odometer and battery indicator.

Nissan Leaf gave BEV a bad name because it had much worse battery tech. Battery longevity is not a problem for modern, or even decade old cars.

toomuchtodo•about 2 hours ago

Yes.

EV Batteries Last Way Longer Than Expected - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43001996 - February 2025 (2 comments)

New study shows: EV batteries last much longer than expected - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42228901 - November 2024 (70 comments)

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

trollbridge•about 1 hour ago

Certainly not the case for hybrids like Priuses. The battery system lasts 10-15 years and 150k-200k miles. Any ICE car on the market now should be expected to last a lot longer than that; I drive cars that are 25+ years old and really don't need much significant in the way of repairs.

FabCH•40 minutes ago

Hybrids are the worst of both worlds when it comes to maintenance. They have their benefits and are key to fighting climate change, but mechanically you inherit all the problems from both sides.

There is no way you are driving a 25 year old car without serious maintenance like exchanging the timing belt. Add the frequent oil changes and all other yearly maintenance and it does add up.

Compared to a BEV, where you literally only need to change the break pads, and you may or may not need to change the battery, and the batteries keep outperforming the expected lifespan. BEV are simply mechanically much simpler devices.

gibspaulding•21 minutes ago

> Hybrids are the worst of both worlds when it comes to maintenance.

While this seems intuitively true, I have some pushback, and I think that the reliability record of e.g older generations of Prius backs me up.

While you do have effectively two cars (an EV and an ICE) crammed into one, you’re not actually using both at full capacity all the time, which cuts down a lot on wear and tear. Your ICE is almost never run under load before it warms up, and is kept running at its most efficient rpm most of the time, your transmission is running under less load since it has help from the electric motors, and is often simpler (the aforementioned Prius does not have a reverse gear for example).

No it’s not nearly as simple as a BEV, but a well implemented hybrid system is absolutely an upgrade from a full ICE vehicle.

okr•12 minutes ago

Can we not finally close all volcanos?

jmclnx•about 2 hours ago

The US Post Office was slated to use EVs as replacements for worn out mail delivery vehicles. For many areas, especially urban areas, those would have been perfect and cheaper in the long run. I know because I knew a lot of Mail cCarriers and I know how these are used. As a kid I was driven around a route one day with a relative.

But Trump and the Postmaster General cancelled that and went to use gas guzzlers instead. I wonder how that is working out now.

chrisBob•6 minutes ago

The new EV mail trucks are running routes in my area now. Not my route yet but I have seen them within a few miles of my house.

trollbridge•about 1 hour ago

"But Trump and the Postmaster General cancelled that and went to use gas guzzlers instead. I wonder how that is working out now."

What makes you say that? The biggest impediment to the rollout was that the company that was supposed to build them repeatedly failed to do so, and finally had their contract pulled in 2021 and it was given to a defence contractor who seems to be on track to actually deliver the things.

toomuchtodo•about 1 hour ago

Still happening.

https://news.usps.com/2025/12/01/usps-is-delivering-its-new-...

> The Postal Service’s $9.6 billion upgrade of its delivery fleet is proceeding apace.

The organization plans to roll out 106,000 new vehicles by 2028, including 45,000 battery-electric next-generation delivery vehicles and 21,000 commercial-off-the-shelf battery-electric vehicles.

> Additionally, USPS is upgrading infrastructure at its facilities with the addition of charging stations for the zero-emission electric vehicles, of which over 14,000 have already been purchased.

> So far, more than 35,000 new vehicles are on the road.

> “The new fleet rollout is proceeding well, aligned with our plan,” said Justin Glass, the Postal Service’s fleet management senior director.

(USPS spends ~$500M/year for fossil fuels, so it’s a no brainer to electrify)

virgildotcodes•about 1 hour ago

Wow, a small glimmer of good news. I almost want to hide this comment over fear of drawing attention to this thing that got away from the powers that be.

toomuchtodo•about 3 hours ago

Original title “The climate benefits of retiring a fully operational internal combustion engine vehicle” compressed to fit within title limits.

A new lifecycle study in the journal Science concludes there are substantial climate benefits to swapping an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle for an electric vehicle (EV) even if the ICE or hybrid vehicle is brand new, if driven more than ~7,054 km/year (4,384 miles/year).

bitwize•about 1 hour ago

Propaganda for "Scrap your old car now and buy new—now with AI driver spying features as mandated by Congress, and personal data sales to insurance companies!"

trollbridge•about 1 hour ago

The "get rid of a working car" is particularly suspect, and reminds me of the "cash for clunkers" scheme which was basically a giant sop to the auto industry. Why not just have EVs replace ICE vehicles when they break down and aren't worth repairing?

toomuchtodo•24 minutes ago

The TLDR is “Replace your combustion vehicle with an EV if you’re a high mileage driver; a low mileage driver can then buy the combustion vehicle for low mileage use.” An EV sold to someone who drives 1k miles a year is somewhat inefficient at this point of the adoption curve, versus someone who drives 5k-15k miles a year. You want to maximize EV miles traveled to minimize CO2 emissions.

25% of total annual global vehicle sales are already EVs. We’re just arguing timeline to get to 100%. Peak combustion vehicle sales was 2017.

https://ourworldindata.org/electric-car-sales

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/09/chinese-ele...

https://www.evinfrastructurenews.com/ev-technology/evs-take-...

cucumber3732842•4 minutes ago

Dude, everything you post is borderline propaganda. There's probably a few people who'll keep their 2017 Mazda an little longer because of who the message is coming from.

>Peak combustion vehicle sales was 2017.

Peak oil was every year starting decades before I was born.