Vettel slammed over his latest Formula E rebuke
Sep.2 - A former F1 driver has slammed Sebastian Vettel for dismissing the value of the all-electric open wheeler series Formula E.
This week, the German weekly Die Zeit asked the retiring quadruple world champion if - given his environmental activism - he might consider a move to Formula E.
"No, I'm not going to Formula E," Vettel answered. "I would not like to be involved in a project that I am not sure about.
"I don't see the point in this series. The technology has nothing to do with the technology that an ordinary car could use.
"It is absolutely useless for the environment if the batteries are charged not with renewable energy sources but with fossil fuels," the German insisted.
Lucas di Grassi, a former F1 driver who has gone on to win 13 Formula E races so far, issued a scathing rebuke.
"If Vettel don't want to come to Formula E, it is his choice," said the Brazilian.
"To say that the technology of the cars are less relevant to the future of automobiles, he either has no idea what he is talking about or he is trying to mislead the general public on purpose.
"Or all that green stuff he has been doing lately - collecting trash, riding bicycles etc - is complete greenwashing and not what he truly believes," di Grassi added.
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Quite an attack-like response by Di Grassi.
Well he's not going to agree is he? The guy who couldn't retain his F1 seat and is finally winning in the duracell car series, isn't then going to agree it's sh1te.
The carbon footprint of electric vehicles is actually larger per capita than an equivalent vehicle with a internal combustion engine. The social and environmental penalties in sourcing the rare-earth minerals needed for the batteries is staggering. Then there is the energy required to manufacture, charge and dispose of the batteries. High-grade copper used in the conductors is also very carbon heavy.
So the EV lobby tells us their vehicles are "zero emission", when in reality they're cradle-to-grave life-time generation of CO2 is significantly greater than most internal combustion equivalents.
I've got to agree with Vettel - if the batteries are charged using electricity from a fossil-fueled generation plant, they have added more carbon per-capita than an equivalent internal combustion engine. A 100 Kw Tesla battery generates 15 tonnes of CO2 for one charge. And that's for maybe a 150 - 200 km drive.
The carbon footprint of electric vehicles is actually larger per capita than an equivalent vehicle with a internal combustion engine. The social and environmental penalties in sourcing the rare-earth minerals needed for the batteries is staggering. Then there is the energy required to manufacture, charge and dispose of the batteries. High-grade copper used in the conductors is also very carbon heavy.
So the EV lobby tells us their vehicles are "zero emission", when in reality they're cradle-to-grave life-time generation of CO2 is significantly greater than most internal combustion equivalents.
Lucas di Grassi is a nobody in the real world! A legend in his own lunch time!
At least Seb has achieved something that di Grassi can only dream about!
Formula E is the FIA's token gesture to appease the looneys in the green lobby group who are too thick to recognise reality.
Right! And wherever they go to race, they have to bring large Caterpillar gen-sets with them, as the local electrical infrastructure can't support the load.