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Frame from The Contradictions of Battery Operated Vehicles  | Graham Conway | TEDxSanAntonio Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

The Contradictions of Battery Operated Vehicles | Graham Conway | TEDxSanAntonio

49 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
Cited on HN 3 times, 2022, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Mentioned only occasionally as a contrarian argument for hybrids over EVs, with no real endorsement.

A TEDx talk arguing that battery electric vehicles are not as environmentally friendly as commonly believed and that the rush to adopt them is misguided. TED flagged it as containing claims that lack scientific support.

3 citations · Talks · partly dated

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@tejohnso Jun 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Carbon dioxide now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels
Read more
> Every claim you make is false Every claim I made is not false. For example I said "electricity is MOST LIKELY not carbon free". If that were false, then are you suggesting that most electricity is carbon free? Are we only talking about vehicles operating in Costa Rica or something? I think it is easy to verify that your statement is incorrect. The comment I was responding to was one sided and without sourced information. I provided an argument for the other side without sourced information as well. I'm not sure that anything I said is wildly false , and I thought it would provide balance. If you're curious, have a look at this TedX [talk]. I just happened across it yesterday so those arguments were top of mind. It's another example of a whole bunch of "facts" being presented with no source so I don't give it much weight but it's a good presentation. [talk]: [this video]
@gadflyinyoureye Jul 2022 Cites it
on HN thread When coal first arrived, Americans said 'no thanks'
At present the turbines are not recyclable. [link] EVs are probably really worse than hybrids. [this video] Solar panels are pretty toxic. Present recycling produces all sorts of toxic waste that might be poorly handled. [link] Batteries are often sourced from slave labor. [link] Lithium miners often continue exploration of indigenous peoples. [link] Lithium mining often poisons the environment. [link] The list goes on.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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