The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

[DJC]

With all that being said, (and I am no EV booster, just pointing out the logical fallousies that exist) does manufacturing ICE cars, and pulling oil out of the ground not require similar amounts of effort and the odd disaster from an oil slick cause similar issues?

Is it possible that the manufacturing processes and cost are as probelematic and costly as each other, and ergo, the running of an EV vs an ICE car, actually yield some ecological benefit?

That being said, im not convinced either way, but many of these arguments are one sided which makes it really difficult.  Its possible that once manufactured, the ecological impact of the EV decrease to a point to offset any issues in manufacturing and you need good data for that, including how the electricity is produced to power the EV.  If you charge off solar, and then run it for 10 years, vs a petrol powered car, you have additional ongoing environmental impacts in the car industry to also consider even if the manufacturing process is initially in deficit. 

I think there is likely a better solution out there, but we will find out in due course.

A Facebook post is probably a tad less one-sided than anything that comes out of Jeremy Clarkson's mouth  :

A fairly independent appraisal of some of the myths about EVs can be found here: https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electr...icle-myths

For example:

FACT: The greenhouse gas emissions associated with an electric vehicle over its lifetime are typically lower than those from an average gasoline-powered vehicle, even when accounting for manufacturing.

Some studies have shown that making a typical EV can create more carbon pollution than making a gasoline car. This is because of the additional energy required to manufacture an EV’s battery. Still, over the lifetime of the vehicle, total GHG emissions associated with manufacturing, charging, and driving an EV are typically lower than the total GHGs associated with a gasoline car. That’s because EVs have zero tailpipe emissions and are typically responsible for significantly fewer GHGs during operation (see Myth 1 above).

For example, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory estimated emissions for both a gasoline car and an EV with a 300-mile electric range. In their estimates, while GHG emissions from EV manufacturing and end-of-life are higher, total GHGs for the EV are still lower than those for the gasoline car.

That's pretty close to your logic Thry.

It's claimed that 98% of each EV is now being recycled, but I haven't verified that.  I imagine that a similar percentage would apply to ICE vehicles, but then there's the energy required to recycle both.

I'm still not convinced that EVs, in their current form, are the future but I have no doubt that they are preferable to ICE vehicles in terms of GHG emissions.