
The World Is Embracing S.U.V.s. That’s Bad News for the Climate - IntronExon
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/climate/suv-sales-global-climate.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
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impostervt
I've noticed a growing number of people at my work's parking lot seem to have
giant trucks, the type that barely fit into the parking space. Given that they
work in IT (as everyone in the building does), I wonder why they need such
large vehicles.

When my kids get bigger, I'm getting a Fiat (or something small). Seems like
it would be more fun and less hassle.

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mieseratte
Living in the South, this is all too common. All time favorite was a lawyer,
had a lifted F-250 such that the lower bar was about crotch height on my 6'3"
frame. It's a "display of virility." The look at me, I'm a real man. I smoke
Marlboro Reds and write C++.

Fun Fact: With the rear seat down, a Honda Civic can fit reams of 2x4s just
fine, with the trunk closed. I've done it plenty.

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Hasz
Any chance you can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood into a Honda Civic?

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mieseratte
Based on the "barrier" between the trunk and rear seat, likely not. You could
fit it about half of the way in, and tie it down. Alternatively, Thule racks
make it easy to haul over-sized lumber with a sedan.

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rayiner
Conspicuously missing is any attempt to put a number on how much greenhouse
emissions would be saved if people who bought SUVs had bought sedans instead.

Also: if SUVs are 30% less efficient, it’s the same as someone who chooses to
live 10 miles from work versus 13 miles. That’s a difference that wouldn’t
even register in conversation much less warrant a New York Times article.

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scythe
I thought driving distance and speed were both targets of the New Urbanism
movement? I would certainly support efforts to reduce them.

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rayiner
Driving into the city from the exurbs versus taking public transit, maybe. But
even New urbanization would find it hard to get worked up over someone driving
in from a slightly further suburb versus a slightly closer suburb. SUVs
engender disproportionate reaction because of visibility.

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ocdtrekkie
As someone who moves a lot of computer equipment around, the sedan was painful
to work with. So I'm definitely attached to the RAV4 if mostly for the
hatchback trunk and fold down seats. I don't have one, but hybrid RAV4s are on
the market now.

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joncrane
About 20 or so years ago, the big knock on SUVs was how dangerous it
supposedly was for a much heavier vehicle to crash with a "normal" vehicle,
e.g. a compact car. Does that hold any weight?

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spamizbad
I think it depends what you're crashing into. Anything robust and stationary
you're probably worse off. Fatal roll-over crashes were _significantly_ worse
for SUVs in the 90s, but I believe modern SUVs are now much safer.

Accord to this graph ([http://bestride.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/deaths-
per-ve...](http://bestride.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/deaths-per-vehicle-
type-graph.png)) the safest vehicles seem to be large cars and midsized SUVs.
Pickups and large SUVs seem really dangerous. With that said, consider the
role of each class of vehicle: Large cars (station wagons, vans) and mid-sized
SUVs are all likely "family cars."

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bryanlarsen
Why haven't SUVs fallen prey to the soccer Mom curse yet? Station wagons and
minivans fell out of fashion because they were family vehicles. That's what
SUVs are now, yet they're still cool.

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MagnumOpus
They're cool among soccer moms doing school runs and javascript developers.
"Chelsea tractor" is the common ephitet, I think. Give it another 5 years and
they will go the way of the minivan in the US.

(Problem is China, where they love to warm up US trends from a decade ago, and
amplify them hundredfold...)

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bryanlarsen
I predicted the same thing about 10 years ago. I believe we'll both be right,
eventually. But I'm afraid that your 5 year estimate is too optimistic.

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lawrenceyan
Or just buy a Model X. :p

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mirimir
Well, they're 2300-2500 kg. That's about the same as large SUVs, given the
battery weight. Tesla Model 3 are 1600-1700 kg, vs 1200-1400 kg for compacts
generally.

Maybe make a hardened Tesla compact. Add more batteries in the front, plus a
serious steel space frame, and depleted uranium armor :)

