Critics and skeptics have been pointing out that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have a larger carbon footprint than non-electric vehicles. This is not without good reason, but not entirely true.
There are two main causes of carbon footprints created by BEVs:
1. The manufacturing and disposal of BEVs – specifically their batteries. This includes the mining of minerals that goes into battery manufacturing
2. The fossil fuel (coal or gas) that is the source of electricity that powers the BEVs
Zero tailpipe emissions do not mean that greenhouse gases are eliminated. The emissions just get shifted from vehicles to factories and power plants. So are BEVs of any help in making our environment cleaner?
Here’s the good news: Studies have found that though it’s true that the production of a BEV causes more pollution than a gasoline-powered counterpart, this greenhouse gas emission difference is erased as the vehicle is driven.
Several life cycle analyses have been conducted to determine the environmental costs of the trade-off, by comparing the amount of greenhouse gases created from the production, use and disposal of a BEV, and the gases from a gasoline-powered vehicle of a similar size. In a study conducted by the University of Michigan, the pollution equation evens out between 1.4 to 1.5 years for sedans, 1.6 to 1.9 years for SUVs and about 1.6 years for pickup trucks. As an example, electric SUVs produced just 37% of the emissions of their gasoline-powered counterpart.
A new online tool developed by Transport & Environment Organization, Europe’s leading clean transport campaign group, allows the public to compare the lifecycle emissions of an EV to fossil-fuelled vehicles. According to this tool, electric cars in Europe emit, on average, almost three times less CO2 than an equivalent petrol or diesel car.
Even in the worst-case scenario, an electric car with a battery produced in China and driven in Poland still emits 22% less CO2 than diesel and 28% less than petrol, the tool shows, as in the chart below. In the best-case scenario, an electric car with a battery produced in Sweden and driven in Sweden can emit 80% less CO2 than diesel and 81% less than petrol.
Outside of the resource used to produce your power, another reason why electric vehicles are considered more sustainable than traditional vehicles is the energy efficiency of the electric car. According to Transport & Environment, all-electric vehicles manage an overall efficiency rating of 73%. It is 22% for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and just 13% for standard fossil fuel vehicles using gasoline.
The greater the use of renewable sources – such as wind, solar, nuclear and hydropower – the greater the reduction in emissions. All of the criticisms of BEVs will soon be a thing of the past as battery production becomes cleaner and electricity generation moves away from coal.
