If you consider yourself an environmentalist, then you also know that it takes more than just doing your part in composting, refusing to support companies that still produce single-use plastics, or even driving an electric vehicle (EV).
But at the same time, choosing to drive an EV, especially within the United States considering the country’s gas emissions are highest next to China, is both a smart choice and still one way to help the globe.
Yet there has been an ongoing debate in the modern automotive industry about whether EVs and hybrid vehicles produce more comparative and greenhouse gasses than regular cars. But after this particular comprehensive review was released, it seems that the arguments can finally stop.
The research used a life cycle assessment (LCA) and measured every ounce of carbon that was created from the first use of an electric vehicle until the very end of its life, and what they found was that it ‘still had substantially less emissions’ than that of the usual internal combustion engine vehicles (ICVs) that most people use.
Since the start of hybrid and electric vehicles on the market, especially the ever famous Toyota Prius, most people in the industry were still apprehensive about the idea that they were truly “more green” than ICVs. This is due to the major carbon costs it takes to create the battery the EV needs, as well as the fact that to charge the battery requires burning the very same fossil fuels these cars were meant to succeed.
But the new LCA, which was conducted by the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT), took every aspect into consideration of an EV in at least four dominant car markets including the United States, Europe, China and India. This included such things as ‘the mining costs of lithium to make the batteries, to transporting them across the world via container ship, to the end-of-life burden, and even the current and perceived mix of energy generation in a given society.’ It even considered how China and India, which are the largest coil burning nations – including brown coal – as well as their prominent use of oil for electricity, and still tey found that there were less emissions used to drive the EV than the ICV.
In the summary of the report, it said, “Emissions over the lifetime of average medium-size EVs registered today are already lower than comparable gasoline cars by 66% – 69% in Europe, 60% – 68% in the United States, 37% – 45% in China, and 19% – 34% in India.”
It went on to say, “Additionally, as the electricity mix continues to decarbonize, the life-cycle emissions gap between EVs and gasoline vehicles increases substantially when considering medium-size cars projected to be registered in 2030.”
There was good reason for the earlier skeptics of EVs and hybrids to doubt that these vehicles were not as eco-friendly as they were thought to be at first introduction. That’s because even modern battery technology is still considerably carbon-intensive when manufacturing the EVs or hybrids.
But like most technologies, the EV industry has also managed to make their better, faster, cheaper, and more economical, like how they created recyclable battery technology. This not only helped lessen the EV cost, but it also lowered the vehicle’s carbon footprint.
One major setback in the report was that it used estimates from the International Energy Agency in order to make projections ‘about the potential energy mix 18 years into the future.’ 18 years was the estimate in the report of the car’s presumed lifespan.
While it gave a view of the future, they also shared how it was “extremely ballpark” in terms of whether politicians will actually make substantial movements to work on more renewable energy policies. Notably, if there were any huge political power shifts in any of the abovementioned countries, the IEA report wouldn’t have accounted for such things.
Regardless, if you are one of the 5.6 million global EV owners, then you only need to drive your electric vehicle for one year to be officially using less carbon than if you had bought an ICV. And honestly, that’s proof enough that EVs are more eco-friendly for the planet, hands down.
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