The average car purchased in 2023 emits higher levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) than its 2013 equivalent. This is due to the large proportion of SUVs in the mix, which tend to be bigger and heavier.

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 1670 points –
Which pollutes more: a new SUV or a 10-year-old conventional vehicle?
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Pickup trucks are fine. It's the huge ones with giant cabs and useless beds that are just a fashion accessory.

"But muh work tools", yeah just get a sprinter van like normal people. You can fit more, and you can close and lock it so your shit doesn't get stolen out of the bed.

Sometimes it's down to more than what the vehicle can carry, but what the vehicle can tow. A pickup with a 3.5 tonne towing capacity might be a far more useful vehicle than a van that can only pull 1 tonne for example.

Maybe, but the same "work pickups" you see everywhere also aren't towing anything.

But the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van has a towing capacity of 5000-7500 pounds, or 2.5-3.75 tons, depending on configuration. That's the same range as most medium pickups.

Large vans are often made on the same chassis as trucks, so they have the same transmission and maybe a slightly reduced towing capacity

I'm not decrying the abilities of a big van, I drive a 3.5 tonne Transit for work and love it. But we are comparing apples with oranges. I have a friend who owns a Nissan Navara. During the week it is onsite, dragging machinery around building sites. At the weekend it is a family car, taking the kids out etc.

I do admit though, not all pickups are used in this way and my mate is probably in the minority where he has a genuine need for a vehicle that can handle the extremes of work life and home life.

Yeah, and if you're going to use one vehicle for both, that makes sense. Personally I wouldn't use my personal vehicle for work like that, because if it gets wrecked somehow, my insurance won't cover it, and I'd be out of a car until I fight the company's insurance enough to get something out of them. But that might be a US thing.