I realise that new vehicles may be more fuel-efficient than old ones, but many remain fully-powered by fossil fuels and we have just TOO MANY vehicles in this country, and they are BIGGER than necessary for most purposes they are used for 😡

@simplicitarian yes and no. Most people with Utes and vans for example have them for a reason, you just don't see that reason during the week while they drive to work. So you want them to have more cars instead?

@swansinflight @simplicitarian guess it's a question of whether it's 'most' or 'some' who have legit reasons... I'm skeptical of 'most'. It's hard to have a statistically relevant anecdotal view of it, though.

@swansinflight That’s true for some people, especially tradies. But many people (a majority in my neighbourhood) have a big SUV when they only need a vehicle of that capacity very rarely. They could hire a large vehicle when they needed one, and buy a smaller less polluting car for regular use. So many people pop down to the dairy or drive to their office job in enormous vehicles 🤷🏻‍♀️

@simplicitarian @swansinflight my boys and I are just back from a visit to the US, where it's reached peak (at least I, and the planet, hope so!) 'pointlessly, laughably oversized utility vehicle'. My boys were gobsmacked.

@lightweight @swansinflight Grim 😬 And transport is one of our top sources of emissions in Aotearoa - these things really matter.

@simplicitarian @lightweight @swansinflight A tradie in a van is likely a lot less emmissions / km than a "family" SUV being used for driving to & from work etc. A lot of those vans (like Toyota Hiace) are only 2L engines and they aren't all that large for their carrying capacity. Compared to a dbl-cab Ute whose tray can hardly carry anything & its got a massive engine and size to boot.

@lightweight @swansinflight @JimmyKip Yep. A gardener I know wanted to replace her old small truck, and all she could find in the used market was a double-cab one, which is much less useful for her 🤷🏻‍♀️

@simplicitarian @lightweight @swansinflight Yep, I really wanted to buy a single cab ute for carting timber and a small sailing dinghy but just couldn't get one. In the end got a 2L Subaru 4x4 Hatch and will be investing in a trailer. Newer, more comfortable, less emiting car with more utility than a more expensive "ute".