The Environmental Benefits of Being a Blink Mobility Member

Interested in becoming a Blink Mobility member? All you need to do is download the Blink Mobility app, sign up, and once approved you can rent an EV when you need one right from your mobile device. Being a member of Blink Mobility means you have access to EV’s when you need one, you’re saving money, and you’re protecting the environment by driving a car without tailpipe emissions, doing your small part to fight climate change. Just how does renting an EV help fight climate change?

The Basics: Why Do “Regular” Cars Pollute and EVs Don’t?

Internal combustion (or ICE) vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine and run on petroleum. Petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbons in the earth formed from decomposing matter that used to be animals and plants. Petroleum is refined to make fossil fuels, such as gasoline, diesel, etc, available at gas stations all over the country. The process of finding, retrieving, refining, and shipping petroleum is a cause of the pollution that damages the planet.

The major pollution caused by fossil fuels however doesn’t happen until they are burned. When fossil fuels are burned inside an ICE vehicle, the vehicle releases gases. There are many different gases produced by burning fossil fuels; some of the most dangerous include nitrogen oxide, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide. These gases destroy the ozone layer and produce a “greenhouse effect”, increasing the physical temperature of the planet. These gases often contain particulate matter, breathed in by animals, including humans, that can cause illness, such as allergies, asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and death.

Electric vehicles do not use gasoline made from petroleum. Electric vehicles are powered by batteries, generally the same kind of lithium-ion batteries used to power phones and laptops. While there is some pollution created in making these batteries, batteries can be recycled, and there is no pollution whatsoever created in their use. These batteries are “re-charged” as needed at EV charging stations around the country. Electric vehicles don’t have tailpipe emissions. No tailpipe emissions mean no air pollution, no greenhouse gases, and fewer illnesses for the people who drive them.

The Effects of Renting an Electric Vehicle

When we have car in our garage, we tend to overuse it. Those who rent however often walk when they can or may wait until they have a list of chores or a trip they want to take before they rent a vehicle. More rental vehicles mean fewer vehicles in general, and there’s no way to exaggerate the environmental benefit of fewer cars on the road.

We used to have to guess about what would happen if cars were suddenly eliminated, and while many environmentalists predicted immediate positive results, pundits and politicians argued there would be little to no effect. During pandemic quarantine, the theory that was impossible to test, got tested. Before and after photos from all over the world started emerging—complete with blue skies and returning wildlife.

Two years ago, tech scientist Kathryn Hayhoe reported in USA Today that “quarantine slashed fossil fuel use and corresponding carbon and air pollution emissions in China, Italy and beyond.” Air pollution is such an extreme problem in China, that scientists said Covid may have saved more lives there than it cost. Stanford University’s scientist Marshall Burke wrote on G-Feed, “the reductions in air pollution in China caused by this economic disruption likely saved 20 times more lives in China than have currently been lost to due to infection with the virus in that country.” Meanwhile, the World Health Organization states that nearly 8 million lives are lost each year due to air pollution.

Renting an EV instead of an ICE vehicle, and renting instead of owning, greatly reduces air pollution and greenhouse gases. It also eliminates expensive details like maintenance, insurance, parking, and more.

EV Awareness

We want more people to own and drive electric vehicles, but under 1% of the cars on the road in the U.S. are fully electric. Unfortunately, sometimes out of sight means out of mind. Renting EVs gets the vehicles into the public eye. Public, non-profit, and environmental campaigns draw attention to EVs, but nothing gets the word out like “other people are doing it.” EVs are trendier than ever.

Renting EVs puts them in the spotlight and encourages more people to purchase and rent them, which means more investment in EV infrastructure, more EV choice, and better battery tech, making it easier to own an EV than ever before.

When you rent an EV from Blink Mobility, you’re not just renting a vehicle, you’re making a big difference in the planet’s health and quite possibly your own. Download the Blink Mobility app today and become a member. Don’t just drive, move forward.

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