Loading…
2
My neighbor's kid asked why we still fix old trucks and it got me thinking
He's 16 and wants an electric car, said diesel is 'just loud pollution'. I told him about the 1995 F-350 with 400k miles I got running for a farmer in Cedar Rapids. That truck will outlive three of his future cars. It hit different because he wasn't being rude, he just didn't know. How do you guys explain the value of our work to people who don't get it?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
jesse_craig265mo ago
There's a real cost to throwing things away. Every new electric car needs batteries from mines and factories that also hurt the planet. Keeping a solid truck running for decades is its own kind of clean. It's about using what we already have, not just making something new that looks green. That kid might not see the value now, but he will when nothing he owns is built to last.
2
xenawhite5mo ago
You're right, @jesse_craig26. My old work van has over 300,000 miles because we fix what breaks. Building a whole new vehicle, even an electric one, takes a huge amount of new metal and plastic. That has to come from somewhere. Keeping a good machine on the road means less stuff in a landfill and less demand for new mining. It's a quiet kind of care for the world.
8
mason7285mo ago
How many people actually think about the total energy it takes to build a new car versus just maintaining an old one? I read once that making a single EV battery can produce as much pollution as driving a gas car for like 8 years. So if you keep that old truck running for another decade, you're probably coming out ahead on the environmental side, not to mention the cost savings. People get too focused on what comes out the tailpipe and forget about what goes into the factory.
0