New research from the universities of Exeter, Nijmegen, and Cambridge reveals that electric cars are already better for the climate than gas-fueled vehicles, with emissions over their lifetime being considerably lower than those of petrol and diesel cars. The International Council on Clean Transportation is addressing this issue in a white paper, showing that even if an EV is charged by the current electricity grid, it produces lower lifecycle emissions than similar petrol or hybrid vehicles.
Electric vehicles are responsible for fewer greenhouse gas emissions across their entire life cycle than gas-powered vehicles. Even if an EV is charged by the current electricity grid, they produce lower lifecycle emissions than similar petrol or hybrid vehicles. As the electricity grid becomes cleaner, EVs become cleaner too. Electric vehicles in Europe emit, on average, more than 3 times less CO2 than equivalent petrol cars. One study found that emissions from EVs have emissions up to 43 lower than diesel vehicles.
Battery electric cars have a lower environmental footprint than conventional cars, as batteries are increasingly efficient and sustainably sourced. As of 2022, Woodley’s research showed that aggregate use of EVs below 55,749 miles may not generate any emissions in the U.S.
In conclusion, electric cars offer a viable solution for reducing carbon emissions, particularly when considering the full lifecycle of the vehicles.
📹 Can Electric Cars Really Reduce Carbon Footprint?
The number of electric cars on the world’s roads is growing quickly and hit a new high last year. That seems good news since the …
Is lithium mining worse than fossil fuels?
Lithium and cobalt are crucial components of renewable energy sources like solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars. The demand for electric vehicles and consumer electronics is expected to rise, with battery demand for electronics reaching 2. 5 terawatt hours by 2030. However, the environmental impacts of lithium and cobalt mining are significant. Although emissions from these elements are lower than those from fossil fuel production, extraction methods can be energy-intensive, leading to air and water pollution, land degradation, and potential groundwater contamination.
Fossil fuel mining, including lithium and cobalt, emits around 34 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) annually. Cobalt mining is responsible for around 1. 5 million tonnes of CO2e equivalent, while lithium mining emits around 1. 3+ million tonnes of carbon annually. Therefore, a middle ground should be considered in society’s transition to renewable technologies, considering the potential for a more practical and efficient way to extract these resources.
Are Tesla batteries bad for the environment?
Tesla is focusing on producing more sustainable batteries to reduce emissions from electric vehicles (EVs). The company has implemented a dryelectrode process to manufacture battery cells, reducing energy use by over 70% without compromising battery quality. This approach is three times higher than the emissions from gas-powered cars. Tesla’s battery production generates between 5, 291 and 35, 273 pounds of CO2 emissions, making it highly unlikely to need replacement, making its vehicles more sustainable.
What are the disadvantages of electric vehicles?
Electric vehicles (EVs) have gained popularity in recent years due to their environmental benefits and reduced costs. However, they have some disadvantages such as limited driving range, charging infrastructure, high upfront costs, battery life and degradation, limited model availability, environmental impact of battery production, lower selling prices, and limited users. In 2021, 6. 6 million EVs were sold, and over 16 lakh were sold in India between March 2023 and February 2024.
As concerns about climate change and air pollution increase, people are seeking eco-friendly alternatives over traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles. This blog provides a simple guide to the advantages and disadvantages of EVs in the transportation industry.
What is the carbon footprint of EV?
The average US vehicle is responsible for the emission of 66 tons of greenhouse gases over the course of 200, 000 miles, whereas a battery electric vehicle is accountable for 39 tons.
How much CO2 does an electric car save?
Experts recommend electric vehicles (EVs) due to their significantly lower CO2 emissions compared to gas vehicles. EVs produce only 60g of CO2/km, resulting in 50 less CO2 emissions over their lifetime. In countries like France and Sweden, where renewable energy is most used, EVs can produce up to 70 less CO2 than non-gas vehicles (NGVs). While zero emission cars are still a dream, EVs are worth the switch, as they emit significantly less carbon dioxide throughout their life. Monta is the operating platform for the EV ecosystem.
Are hybrid or electric cars better for the environment?
Climate Lab, a Seattle Times initiative, has found that fully electric vehicles produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions over a 180, 000-mile life. Plug-in hybrids are the best option, followed by regular hybrids and internal combustion engines. The project, funded by The Bullitt Foundation, Jim and Birte Falconer, Mike and Becky Hughes, University of Washington and Walker Family Foundation, and the Seattle Foundation, explores the effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
How bad is it for the environment to make an electric car?
Electric vehicles (EVs) have a significant carbon footprint due to the mining and processing of minerals, resulting in a higher initial harm to the environment than gas cars. However, the environmental impact of building and using a vehicle, known as a “lifecycle analysis”, has shown clear benefits for EVs. The size of these benefits varies by vehicle, electricity source, and other factors, but the overall trend is clear. The production of EVs requires significant resources, making them more environmentally damaging than gas cars.
How bad are Tesla batteries for the environment?
The International Energy Agency (IEA) states that electric vehicles require six times the mineral inputs of gasoline-powered vehicles, and EV lithium-ion batteries are made with expensive and potentially toxic materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper. The mining and disposal of these materials pose significant environmental challenges. Currently, a lower percentage of EV lithium-ion batteries are recycled, but this number is increasing. Open pit mining, which is used to extract components for these batteries, damages large areas of the natural environment.
Nickel, a major component of EV batteries, is extracted from Indonesia’s rainforests using horizontal surface mining, causing harm to the environment, deforestation, and the removal of topsoil. This process is not saving the planet, as the rainforests are responsible for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Do electric vehicles reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
All-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) typically produce lower tailpipe emissions than conventional vehicles, and zero tailpipe emissions when running only on electricity. These emissions are influenced by the life cycle of a vehicle, which includes upstream emissions such as fuel extraction, refining, production, and transport. Estimating cradle-to-grave emissions requires considering both fuel-cycle emissions and vehicle-cycle emissions, including material and vehicle production and end of life.
All-electric vehicles and PHEVs running solely on electricity have zero tailpipe emissions, but electricity production may generate emissions. In areas with low-polluting energy sources, these vehicles have a significant life cycle emissions advantage over conventional vehicles. Vehicle emissions can be classified into air pollutants and greenhouse gases, which can be evaluated on a tailpipe, well-to-wheel, and cradle-to-grave basis.
How much CO2 does a Tesla reduce?
Electric cars, like Tesla, are becoming cleaner over time due to advancements in the grid. On average, a Tesla saves 600 pounds of CO2 per year compared to a gas car, but in 10 years, the gas car will be sputtering due to wear and tear. Electric cars will continue to get cleaner as the grid becomes cleaner. If the grid were twice as clean in 10 years, every electric car on the road would run twice as clean. The effects are cumulative and continue to accelerate with advancements in the grid. Tesla and other EV drivers are making significant strides in the clean energy revolution.
📹 Are Electric Cars REALLY Better for the Environment?
We hear it all the time: “Electric cars are better for the planet”. Statements like that have been the foundation of electric car builders …
Hey guys I felt this was an important article for us to make, and I’m really glad you guys like it. We’ve covered a lot of different cars on this website and talked to a lot of owners, and the one thing that unites them all is the desire for MO POWAH BABEH! So no matter how your car makes its power, you’re welcome in the Donut community. – Nolan
No matter which is less damaging to the environment, a brand new EV or a brand new ICE car, I still firmly belive that the MOST enviromental thing you can do as a car owner and driver, is keep an old car running for as long as possible, the production of new cars is responsible for quite a large chunk of the emissions no matter how you spin it!
Excellent breakdown of the pros and cons of EVs. One big issue I see with them is that they’re still not affordable enough for most people even with a tax credit. And on top of that a lot of people don’t have access to charging because they live in an apartment. Someday it’ll get there when the technology matures but not yet.
Watching this 2 years later and I have a few comments: I think you did a really good job looking at this from an unbiased perspective, however I think you missed out on a couple important points. 1. The batteries on EVs wear out. These batteries will need to get replaced multiple times throughout the life of an EV. Judging by the fact that the majority of EV emissions come from the battery manufacturing process, I feel like accounting for this would change the numbers a lot. These batteries don’t last nearly as long as reliable gasoline engines, which can run for hundreds of thousands of miles with no issues. 2. The power grid concern you denoted as a myth actually has a lot of merit. There was a recent heatwave in California. Because of this,home owners tend to use more electricity on air conditioning. This alone was enough for the state of California to request their residents not to charge their EVs because they couldn’t provide enough power to do so. They also requested residents to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher in order to conserve power. This is ridiculously hot and not at all a reasonable request.
Great article man! One thing we have to consider here is that EV production technology is still in it’s infancy. The process will get more efficient as the economy of scale gets larger. Also, our power grid is something that will get better over time also. On the other hand, you can’t just take oil out of the air and put it back in the ground. Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s stuck in the carbon cycle.
Great explanations. However, at 8:42 in the article, what you showed as emissions from an electric power plant was actually steam from the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant. This steam is no radioactive, but rather it is isolated from any radiation. A lot of people mistakenly show cooling tower steam as scary “smoke” when in fact it is quite the opposite, as nuclear power plants emit very low CO2. They are the type of power plant we should want more of until this nuclear fusion power is figured out.
Nice article. I just wanted to add a couple notes for clarification. I work in the utility industry. There are two issues with the power generation and supply for EVs. One is simply we don’t have the capacity. I know you said this was incorrect in the article, but the US power grid only has roughly a 10% surplus during peak load. And that surplus is not tangible across the entire grid at any one given time. While it would support a sudden spike in EVs, the grid would be in stretched pretty thin in some areas with high population densities and those areas could experience “brown” or “dirty” power outages. These already occur on occasions when the system is stressed by unusual weather conditions such as those seen in California and New York in the past. There is another related issue. Coal fired or liquefaction plants converted to natural gas are dependent on volume and that volume delivery is directly associated with environmental events. In the middle of the winter, during a severe cold snap, a generation plant my need to dip into the reserve to feed the electrical system, but is unable to because they are not able to get the volume due to the residential customers, high volume and distribution operators drawing down the gas supply before it reaches the power plant. This occurred in the midwest in 2021. The volume of gas available was not enough to supply the demand and the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and parts of Texas had to cycle scheduled blackouts to get the grid back into a stable state.
Lots of pretty good info. I seemed to have missed if you added the impact of the oil extraction and refining to the ICE cars (over all or per gallon). From what I have read, that adds about another 5ish pounds of CO2 per gallon that is burned,… or another 2500 lbs a year. (haven’t addressed any oils, or other fluids in ICE or their disposal or production either :))
Your math is wrong. The average EV breakeven point is more like 1.5 years for short range EV, and 5 years for long range EV. You also didn’t take into account battery replacement especially for short range EVs, who will be far more affected by battery degradation. Battery warranties typically last for 8 to 10 years. 2nd hand EVs will need their batteries replaced sooner than later.
The ethical issues related to current lithium ion batteries cannot be overstated. I know this article is a couple years old but now Red Cobalt the book has come out. Also, with fuel vehicles becoming more efficient and the introduction of hybrids, we are probably going to find ourselves in a place where an efficient hybrid vehicle is the best of both worlds. If I can get 40 to 50 mpg, I would be using less than 300 gallons of fuel driving 12,000 mi a year.
Whilst looking into this have you looked at the comparison of the impact of a new EV produced this year versus keeping a 10 or 15 year old ICE on the road – I would imagine (but don’t have the figures) keeping a well maintained existing ICE car on the road is far better then the production of a new car
Geologist here! Both lithium and cobalt mining are EXTREMELY archaic, and even if technology improves it still will require huge amounts of water to first dissolve the lithium and cobalts salts to extract them from the ground. In the same vein that the infamous fracking, lithium mining is very bad for the environment (not everything is CO2 emmisions), specially if done poorly. And unless we get REALLY good at recycling all the elements in a battery (specially rare earths), i don’t see it as a long term solution for all transportation. It’s a nice stopgap and more healthy than gas but nowhere near as “clean” as hidrogen cells could be. Why those aren’t being researched more even if today they are far away from profitability is anybody’s guess.
I love cars, I love internal combustion engines, I don’t want them to go away, but the hardcore anti-EV people are just silly. EVs are awesome too. They’re just different, and that’s fine. EVs are great for short trips, city driving, and occasionally for having fun. ICE vehicles make sweet noises, are fun to drive (and work on), and are pretty much unlimited in range given how easy it is to find fuel and fill up the tank. But yes, they are worse for the environment. They just are. We have to accept reality. One slight issue I have with the article is referring to hydroelectric plants as “clean”. Honestly, they’re pretty catastrophic for the environment. Now would be a good time to talk about bringing some innovation to the nuclear power sector, and dispel some of the myths surrounding it. Overall great article in any case, good work Nolan!
Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained did a good article on this. Basically: right now EVs are comparable to gas cars for the first few years due to the initial manufacturing such as mining rare earth materials etc. If they can figure out how to make solid state batteries work. That’ll be a game-changer for the EV market.
Consider this. Anti-freeze coolant, engine and transmission oil, gasoline and oil companies drilling and spilling oil on the ground and in the oceans. Please remember all the super tanker and off shore oil spills and clean up. EV batteries are constantly updated and soon will be made of sodium. And last over 500 miles on a single charge
I like it when people are honoust, even if you dont like EVs, you can still keep to the facts and the truth that EVs are better for the environment in the long run. Myself, I own a PHEV. Using almost only the PHEV on battery. For me this is the best alternative for the environment. It has a smaller battery and is easier to produce, still I almost only use the car on electricity.
Solid article. Few pointers: 1. You have ignored the copper impact in production. You need 6 times the copper compared to a combustion engine. 2. The grid can handle it is a stretch. Granted, you talked about US, but last year we have seen that electricity production is not as robust as people thought. Europe has been struggling and electricity was close to being rationed. The cost also went through the roof. 3. Refineries pollute a lot, but you can’t just credit that to petrol cars; many other things are produced from refined products, which are also used in EVs (plastics, lubricants etc). 4. Batteries showed big issues in very cold conditions like there were this winter, turning the vehicles useless (i guess that lowers their carbon output 🤣). I’m sure EVs still hold an edge if you account for these things, but that edge becomes smaller. That edge also greatly depends on where the EV is being operated in.
I am a residential electrician. I cant comment on the grid, but there are definitely houses that aren’t ready for a car charging circuit without a service upgrade or second service. That is 5-20K depending on local code requirements plus an additional 500-2k for the car charger plug and circuit. It could be a hell of a lot more depending on the distance from the panel. For a big apartment building or condo to get a bunch of car chargers could be an incredibly massive project. I am 100% for EVs, just saying.
Few things you missed that are important… 1) cold weather… It’s about 20 out where I am. Even after I installed a charger for my friend, it was taking up to 48 hours for a charge. 2.) End of life cycle on an e.v. is much like the beginning, less friendly. 3) when those lithium batteries reach their end, it is cost prohibitive to recycle them. So where does that lithium and cobalt go? Yikes! 4.) The grid cannot handle even 10% e.v. usage in highly populated areas without restricting usages. Coming from an electrical engineer. New building codes are pushing us the way of more electric components in houses so things are working against us. 5) when things happen in nature, there is often very limited electrical sources. So response and capabilities are diminished greatly. You make some great points. I applaud you. But there are some barriers here. A mix of vehicle types is and always be the answer.
Let’s see…My batteries must have a recharge. I am waiting in line for the charger and I am ten cars back. Each charge takes about 10 hours. So one hundred hours later I may have a recharge. During the wait time it was either hot or cold and I had no heater or air conditioner. Can’t wait to get a battery car!!!
Good explanation of the facts! I will admit I’m an older gear head and like you I LOVE my good old V8’s and will till the day I die and I have to be honest I’m not a fan of EV’s. BUT i am also a realist and know that we have to reduce our emissions so hopefully as more people turn to EV’s for commuting and normal day to day driving we can still have our dinosaur gas powered cars for fun!!
Just discovered this article and had to leave a comment. I appreciate the honesty about the efficiency of EVs and your love for gas-powered cars. When you love it, you love it but it doesn’t mean you can’t acknowledge a truth that may conflict with the object of your passion. And that’s probably what passion is, I think LoL. Great content and infographic, appropriate length IMO for the general public (maybe cars, environment, and data nerds would love a longer one LoL), excellent research. Just… kudos! 🙂
Meh. I live in a townhouse and I can’t have a charger installed that would connect to my house’s power. And I don’t want to have to drive out to a charging station to pay more money to charge my car up. I’ll continue to ride my motorcycle as much as I can instead of driving my car (which is a hybrid). Motorcycles, even at the low end are more fuel efficient than most cars. My current bike has a 6 cylinder 1,649cc engine and it still gets 45mpg on average. If I were to be more conservative on the throttle, I could get it into the low or mid 50’s. More people need to ride motorcycles. They are a lot more fun than cars, they are easier to maintain and you can park just about anywhere.
The rich vs poor argument doesn’t take into account the “poor” people that still have some money to buy some kind of car. The people who only have enough disposable income for a second or third hand cars for $500-3,000 until Ev’s get to that level of circulation or price they won’t be a big deal for “normal people”
One of the things that I think gets left out of the conversation is that Co2 is not the only pollutant, what about waste that finds it’s way into soil or waterways. Much of the mining for these materials come from third world shit holes with no regard to the environment around them. Not to mention much of our E-waste ends up in places like India and Africa to be dealt with in very dangerous and environmentally unfriendly ways. The life cycle of these vehicles has yet to be seen also, I still see 30 year old siverados rolling around here in the mid-west, I think a $16k battery would be a hard sale to a consumer who’s vehicle is 10 years old. That makes an interesting thought experiment about the used car market, kids just getting on their feet, and people who don’t make much money. What does the used car market look like if it is full of unwanted cars that need a very expensive battery replacement that really needs to be done by someone with those expertise just to make them run? The Co2 reduction becomes meaningless if these cars are finding themselves in scrap yards at half the life cycle of an infernal combustion powered car.
Can you do a article on the charging infrastructure and when it makes sence to switch? In my area there is not much charging and a lot of apartments where you can’t charge. My friend had to return his. I also live in a van and would like to switch to the electric sprinter van but it’s just not doable atm with infrastructure. Also maybe talk about winter effects on electric cars. Iv seen a lot about how in northern nh where I live they can’t handle the winter months
Nice article, lots of good data. I will warrant that only the CO2 costs are considered (primarily) when discussing the environmental impact. Lithium mining and refining produce a good chunk of toxic waste, can’t numbers but essentially the brine after refining has some not so nice chemicals. A lot of the iron and aluminum in all cars can come from recycled sources as both elements are very recyclable (iron alloys are infinitely recyclable with oxidized matter being the only waste, and aluminum is easier to recycle than to refine from ore). This is a super complex issue that people on both sides fail to fully grasp. I’ve gotten a lot more centrist on the issue since starting my engineering education and learned more about what the source issues are
Does anyone know how battery degradation and eventual replacement effects these numbers? Gas cars don’t need their more environmentally harmful parts replaced with the same frequency as EVs. Also curious how an EV compares to a used gas car as I heard a while ago that it’s better environmentally to get a used gas car than it is to get a new EV and I’m not sure if this is still true.
Hey man. I really like how you started the article. You rightly started by stating the problems of water consumption by lithium mining and (some) of the problems of Cobalt mining. However, the wrap-up felt that he falls short on proper analysis of the whole picture as you ultimately you only compare CO2 emission without proper mention the consequences of the other 2 problems. I acknowledge time constrains but you could even raise some questions so your viewers may consider. For example, what is more urgent, the water problem or the Carbon Dioxide? To which one of them are we closer to a solution? How those wasted waters from mining are influencing the populations, the habitats of animals and which kind of components do they have? Also, burning coal releases particles to the environment and is extremely dirty… However, is it really smart to burn organic material with a much higher energy output for these frivulous applications? What about graphene batteries? Aren’t we rushing ourselves after Lithium? I believe that in this way you protect your point while still guiding your viewers to what they should look for and consider when thinking about this. Just a few suggestions 🙂 Regards!
Thank the gods!!! Loved the show. So tired of the crazy uncles in the room screaming other wise. Electric cars are great, and part of the solution not the problem. Also could you do a show, on how batterys are gonna get better. We wont always lithium, thier maybe other far better options in the future. Electric cars are the greatest multi fuel vehicals on the world. New battery better range lighter longer life. Still takes electricity, works the same way. Loved the show!!!!
I watched a talk the other day that was admittedly a few years old. In that talk it mentioned most of the same points that you have mentioned and came to roughly the same conclusions you did. It was however a little harder on the EV’s environmental credentials, which might be a function of its age. It’s conclusion was that now was not the time to rush out and buy an EV and in fact there was a lot more life left in the ICE. This talk was by no means anti EV, it was 100% behind the idea that EV in some form was the way of the future of transport but it did point out that the technology behind EV was not to a level yet where owning one was actually better for the environment. What it did say though was if you wanted to be environmentally friendly right now, the hybrid was the way to go, with their smaller batteries and EV being used to help at times where the ICE is it’s least efficient, i.e., at lower speeds. Thanks for your article, I enjoyed it.
I think the main issue with EV’s are the number of charging stations. Sure if you live in a big city there might be a lot to choose from, but if you live out in the county or even doing road trips you would have to plan your trip around charging stations. Then when at the charging stations if might take anywhere from 30 minutes up to an hour to charge just your car. Now if there are a line of cars in front of you it could take hours before you get to charge your car. If there were just 3 cars in front of you it could take anywhere from 2 hours up to 4 hours just to charge your car. I think this is the main issue why EV’s are not where they need to be for everybody to own one right now. Talk to me when EV’s have solar roofs and can constantly be charged by using the sun. Where you can have an unlimited milage range as long as the sun is out.
I appreciate the very educated response to all those concerns the only thing I would say is I’m unsure if our electrical grid could handle a near total or complete shift to EVs in its current state because I have read before that the U.S. does consume basically its max power capacity and actually quite frequently borrows from Canada. Not saying bit can’t handle it but it might be one of those things where we may become more energy dependent because the demand has increased.
I like ICE and I like EV. For me, the depreciation on EV’s is just too high as they are being superseded almost instantly and your car becomes yesterday’s news effectively overnight. I have serious concerns with the child labour aspect of the mining. I used to work for the largest luxury car manufacturer in the world and when I enquired about the companies policy with regard to the sourcing of the lithium and cobalt I received a less than satisfying response. I left the company and the industry.
Hey bro, I really like what you guys on this website.. that being said, you left out some very important things. Price/ price of maintenance, in the long run, being at the mercy of electric companies, cost of tires, cost of insurance, price of road damage repairs ( that will increase ) pollution from said repairs, recycling EV batteries ? .. What happens when a natural disaster happens? AKA No electric for days. Americans should not have this shoved on us. Their are more reasons..if you want to find, you don’t have to make them up.. keep up the good work.
Hey man good job on the article! The thing that you need to address is junking and scraping! When these cars are taken off the road what is the impact what happens to batteries when they are no longer efficient(go bad) where does that toxic stuff go? How often do they need to be replaced? I feel like not enough people are talking about this. Also accidents?
Even if they are better for the environment, there’s a few parts to this whole equation he didn’t talk about. Maintenance costs (which will cause more environmental impact) and this goes with battery replacement, expense, and environmental impact. The expenses on these from what I can tell are MASSIVE? Maybe someone can elaborate on this? A lot of the newer electric cars have an 8-10 year battery life where they won’t hold much of a charge anymore after that and there’s severe degradation. The cost to replace these batteries….anywhere from $5,000-$20,000 dollars depending on the battery which is an insanely huge expense….don’t let that bother you though $rolls eyes$. Replacement of these lithium batteries has an impact on the environment again obviously. Someone will have to replace that battery every X number of years or trash and replace the entire car (again this is beyond the cost $$$$ many normal people can afford). I have a 1998 Buick Century with 120k miles on the engine, and it’s still using the SAME ENGINE it was built with almost 25 years ago. Basically these cars seem like a money and time sink pit in general. If you go on a road trip say 500 miles you’d have to spend an additional X number of hours stopping and recharging a long the way. Yikes! I’m sorry to say, but the technology isn’t there for this until we can find something better than conventional batteries. If we can find a way to store energy that isn’t heavy, costly, and easily degrades over time like current batteries then we would be good to go.
The best thing you can do for the environment, as far as a car goes, is to just drive the car you have until it breaks, fix it, and keep driving it until it just can’t drive any more. Then, buy a used car and do it all over again. Buying a new car is the worst thing you can do for the environment, even if it is electric.
I kind of doubt the electric grid can handle charging all the cars at the same time, it can barely handle the ac units for houses during the summer, not to mention they started shutting the power supply to some areas here in southern CA because of the winds & don’t want fires to start sssooo essential gas seems to be better 🤣😂
“When you press the accelerator to the floor, tens of thousands of parts in the car come to life, yes, just for you. They play a beautiful symphony under the command of the internal combustion engine, like a harmonious orchestra. The roar of the engine is the crescendo of this concert, incomparable to the electromagnetic sound of electric cars. I don’t like the quietness of electric cars, for quiet is meant for the dead. In the embrace of a gasoline car, life continues with each jump of the spark plug, pulsating like a heartbeat, powering your journey. Look at that driveshaft, a crystallization of human wisdom, transmitting power and taking you to unknown places. That spark plug, the heart of the internal combustion engine, each ignition is a leap of life, a crystallization of the engineer’s wisdom. The entire internal combustion engine is like a sculpture at the pinnacle of industry, representing human creativity and indomitable spirit. Driving a gasoline car, we feel more than just the passion of dancing with machinery; we admire the engineering marvels, awestruck by the industrial peak represented by the internal combustion engine. Every press of the accelerator is an intimate contact with the greatness of technology and engineering, feeling the brilliance of human intelligence. Therefore, a gasoline car is not just a means of transport; it is a masterpiece of human industrial art, a symbol of passion and power. Let us cherish this wonderful mechanical world, feel the charm of the internal combustion engine, and make every drive a journey full of music and passion.
A really good idea would be EV semis and locomotives. These vehicles operational day and night so once the tech advances I think we can make a bigger impaction on emissions. We shouldn’t make internal combustion engines obsolete but enjoy them like we do classic cars or doing rips on the drag strip. The process is slow and takes time as well as acceptance to move to almost all EV it won’t happen over night like some advocate and lobby for.
Now you forgot to mention the fact that tires and roadways still require vast amounts of crude oil to run. Now, electric mass transit is infinitely better for the planet than cars period. You don’t have the health and safety problems with lithium ion batteries and most of the trains can be easily recycled. That’s another positive you didn’t really take into account with internal combustion engine vehicles is they are already very recyclable. Also, engines can burn a variety of fuels and we can probably synthesize a cleaner burning fuel, and have. Emissions are a big problem with any engine and we haven’t really solved the carbon dioxide issue at the tailpipe which can be done too. Digging up the trees in lithium- and cobalt-rich regions just compounds the problem of emissions because foliage thrives on CO2. If anything cars in general aren’t feasible for the environment. Electric trains are.
For the people who love math and the occasional dry joke: Engineering Explained also did a article about this a while back (with pretty much the same findings, though EE points out the specifics and uses his own cars as examples). The website is exactly how the name implies. youtu.be/6RhtiPefVzM
Nolan, in your calculations of total emissions over the “life” of the vehicle, did you factor in battery life? Ie 20 year vehicle life it is unlikely that 1 battery is going to make that. So did you account for that? If not then you missed 2, 3, 4 times the amount co2 from EVs. I, like you, don’t care either way, I am just curious 🙂 what was your factored battery life?
@DonutMedia thanks for the article, I found it very useful. However I have one question. In an Electric Vehicle, you have to replace the battery every 8-10 years or every 100,000 miles and many ICEs can last much longer than this. The initial emissions caused by the battery production as well as human toxicity potential is therefore doubled over the EVs lifetime. Did you take this into account? Would this tip the scale in favour of ICEs over their lifetime or not?
There is an additional argument to be made for EVs…. the pollution from keeping an EV running is generally isolated to whatever power plant is turning fossil fuels into electricity. Therefore, the pollutants can be captured and treated right there, in bulk. Contrast with IC, the pollutants continue to be emitted from the refinery, to the filling station (lost fumes), to what comes out the tailpipe. Let us also consider that EVs do not require a catalytic converter, and thus reduce (at least in some small way) the demand for the metals therein, which must also be mined. They also do not require a steady diet of lubricants. But, the horrific human and environmental toll of mining lithium and colbalt are something I cannot turn a blind eye to. The righteous leftists who believe they are doing great things by driving an $80K Tesla are the same ones who shrug off China’s various genocides and labor camps as “cultural” differences.
1. The recycling of batteries is slowly improving. Similarly, the use of used car EV batteries is also increasing. This is going to help in reducing the impact of Lithium mining on the environment. Additionally, techniques are being developed to clean the brine and other toxics that are the result of Lithium mining. 2. Cobalt is still an issue. 3. Alternatives for Lithium, which are much better for the environment, are also being developed. These include aluminum ion batteries, which are made of aluminum, which have very low impact as the mining of Alluminium is a well established industry. Also, recycling of Alluminium is also well established.
I love how car guys like you make articles about the truth. As an environmental scientist who loves cars and is often accused of trying to forbid combustion engines simply because I point out facts, I am super happy that there are car lovers who don’t try to fit reality into their preferences. Thanks guys and I also hope we can solve the climate crisis while occasionally enjoying the fabulous sound of a V8.
I wonder if the trend of electric vehicles being less damaging to the planet continues after time passes and they’ve had the battery replaced a couple of times. BTW I say this as someone who likes both Gas and Electric I’m also not pushing one or the other. Just something that popped in my head perusal this article and how it’s mentioned that the battery Manufacturing and resource Gathering is the most damaging process of the electric vehicle Manufacturing. I also don’t really know how long EV batteries generally are good for
The real solution until EVs are more efficient and the network is expanded are plug in hybrids. The Chevy Volt was capable of over 50mi per charge on electric alone which is within range of 90% of commutes. It could then do over 400miles in range in hybrid mode. Why we didn’t allow that intermediate stage to happen longer, I’ll never know.
This vid needs a 2.0 version. NFP (nickel-iron-phosphate) batteries don’t use cobalt, and Tesla has switched a bunch of their manufacturing to them. Also, the recycling process is getting well-developed, with companies doing it already. When you do Version 2.0, can you also look at the CO2 emissions of car disposal please? “Cradle to Grave,” in other words.
Great facts defending the pollution levels of EVs vs ICEVs. But At best, EVs are for commuting while ICEVs can tour the country! Granted Taiwan and China use interchangeable batteries but in the US, charging stations are dreadfully slow. Add the 45 to 85 degree optimum LION operating temps. EVs in single digit temps won’t take a charge! Summertime heats over 100 degrees increase the explosion/fire factor for Lion batteries. My ebike is a fun toy. But, I easily ride 300 miles/day on my motorcycles…
How would delivery company’s and trucks transition to ev? Here in the uk there are lots of delivery company’s and some do use ev but from what I know FACT you can’t even turn on the air on or heating because it drains your battery and due to pressure of delivering parcels, they can’t exactly stop to charge it. Therefore, I think this will be really hard to push..
A major con that is not explained is how batteries system aren’t easily replaceable, at least for now, so a minor accident could mean the whole car goes to the scrap if the system is damaged which is a disaster for the environment (and will cost a premium to assure). Also the lack of lithium and other components means that unless the companies find a way to make this more efficient, EV will stay inaccessible for most people. It is still in its infancy though, so it might change who knows?
One thing stands out, and i know what you guys will say, it’s a website based in the US, yes I know, but, US is a developed country whilst lots of places can barely keep their sh*t together with their grids and now imagine another million ev’s charging. Plus let us not forget how expensive is even the cheapest ev you can buy. Not gonna happen any time soon for most places around the world. Also, lithium mining isn’t just harmful for its immediate surroundings, water that’s used obviously flows further out thus polluting much larger areas around, and the cobalt, i won’t even go there. Next stop- charging. How many people live in buildings, imagine coming back home to find your no parking left in front of your building where you throw the cable from the window dow, and since you can’t claim a spot in the street most of the times you can’t charge your car thus you have to pay extortionate amounts to charge somewhere else. If all these problems are solved, yes EV is awesome and I’d gladly own one.
I’m working to have a blend of the two to be more efficent. I’m not talking about hybrid here. I bought a 25kw diesel generator to charge my futur EV and protec my farm from powergrid failure. Before laughing at me, know that an ICE lost around 75% of the energy in heat. By making it stationary in an isolate room, i can heat my house and barn for free. It even fit with my greenhouse ventilation system made out of dodge caravan radiator and my no-battery solar panel system.