The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

[kruddler]

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.

A couple of things.

I'm not sure anyone has explicitly said that EV cars are worse for the environment over their lifetime.

Plenty have said the logic that these cars are green is incorrect.
From your link, it shows that the manufacturing of these cars does actually cause more GHGs than traditional cars (which is the point being made consistently).

Its also assumed that a lot of the energy used to charge these vehicles (the fuel) comes from green sources (study is based on american power, rather here), which will have a big effect on how green they are over the lifetime of the vehicle.

It also doesn't take into account the end of life costs that would be more involved with recycling batteries etc.

I'm not against the idea, i'm against the marketing/propaganda/misdirection involved when talking about how 'green' it is.

Not sure it takes into account the costs (GHG and otherwise) of building all the charging stations that are required either.

Its far from a perfect solution.