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Dear Dot,
Do EVs cause more environmental damage when they’re being manufactured than the carbon they save by not burning fossil fuels to run?
– Carolyn
The Short Answer: There is plenty of misinformation purporting that electric vehicles are worse for the environment than gasoline-powered cars. In particular, those putting forth this claim point to the mining of critical minerals for the car batteries, as well as the increased weight of EVs. However, comprehensive analyses conducted to crunch the numbers come to the same conclusion: EVs are better for the environment.
Dear Carolyn,
Just over a year ago, Dot traded in my internal combustion engine SUV for a full electric vehicle (EV) so I’ve had just over a year of EV experience. So before I get to your specific question, Carolyn, let me share a bit about my experience in order to demystify/address some of the common queries I hear from others about EVs.
How/Where Do I Charge?
I have a plug at home (an electrician reworked a dryer outlet. It’s not the fastest charger — requires overnight to give me a full charge). A home charger amounts to essentially having a gas station in my garage — charging is simple and convenient and, thanks to being able to schedule specific charging times and prioritize off-hours, comparatively cheap. Of course, the cost depends on what you pay for electricity in your location. My region has abundant nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar, and it costs me about $10 to charge my battery from 10% to 80%, giving me a range of roughly 250 miles (400 km).
Is an EV a Hassle on Longer Trips?
Mr. Dot and I recently ventured to Chicago, a trip of just over 400 miles (650 km), and Dot will confess to some pre-departure nerves. I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to find EV chargers, or how much time it would add to our roughly six hour trip. What’s more, our trip was planned for early December, and cold weather reduces my EV battery’s charge — by an average of 25%, according to the University of Calgary, where, Dot can attest, it gets pretty darn cold. (In comparison, it’s worth noting that the Environmental Protection Agency reports that cold weather impacts fuel efficiency for gas-powered engines by 12–28%.)
On our way to Chicago, with excess caution, we stopped to recharge whenever our charge dropped below 40%. Thanks to our Ford app and the Plugshare app, we found charging stations easily. The apps accurately conveyed both the power of the chargers (which helped us determine how long the charging would take) and the number of chargers available in real time. But stopping four times en route added about two hours to our trip, though we used them for bathroom breaks, a lunch stop, and, argh, scrolling our phones.
On the return trip, we felt a bit more confident letting our charge go down to 20–25%, so we stopped just twice and added about an hour to our trip. All in all, the trip provided a learning curve and assured us that our EV could get us long distances, albeit more slowly.
While EV infrastructure isn’t great — Dot dreams of the day that EV chargers are as widely available as gas pumps — it’s getting better all the time. And driving an EV is an absolute pleasure. Smooth, quiet, and non-polluting.
But … How Does an EV Stack Up Environmentally?
It’s all fine and dandy that, once built, an EV doesn’t emit greenhouse gas emissions, but what about everything (including the critical minerals — lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel — for the car’s battery) that goes into producing an EV? What impact does that have on our environment?
While Dot trusts that your question arises out of genuine curiosity, Carolyn, Dot must point out that it’s no coincidence that, as EVs are gaining in popularity and ubiquity, so too is misinformation about them. Particularly common is the myth that the environmental cost of producing an EV outstrips any advantage derived from driving an emissions-free car. This is, in fact, a myth — a stubborn one that’s fueled by those with a vested interest in keeping us reliant on extracting and burning fossil fuels. (In order to help identify and combat misinformation, digital literacy experts have some straightforward — and actionable — advice. For starters, consider the source and what incentive they might have for putting forth a particular point of view. Upton Sinclair famously said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Watergate’s Deep Throat put it this way: Follow the money.)
What evidence does Dot have that this is misinformation? Let’s peek under the hood:
From Bloomberg: “Electric vehicles’ lifecycle emissions can be 70% lower than gasoline and diesel vehicles.”
From Anthropocene: “The lifetime climate footprint of an electric car is now smaller than that of any other type of car — no matter where you drive it in the United States. The finding comes from the most detailed and comprehensive comparison of greenhouse gas emissions from different vehicle types yet conducted.”
From NPR: “If you look at the climate impact of building and using a vehicle — something called a “lifecycle analysis” — study after study has found a clear benefit to EVs. The size of the benefit varies — by vehicle, the source of the electricity it runs on, and a host of other factors — but the overall trend is obvious.”
From the EPA: “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.”
The various studies cited (and there have been many) accounted for the mining, the battery degradation, the charging, the weight of the vehicles … all the usual culprits cited by fossil fuel enthusiasts to declare EVs worse than gas-powered vehicles. And all came to the same conclusion. EVs remain a better environmental choice.
Now … let’s keep in mind that cars of any kind have a negative impact. Far better to walk, ride a bike, take public transit. If we are going to drive and are swayed by the evidence that batteries are better than internal combustion engines, then, with a desire to reduce our carbon tireprint, we should stick to a vehicle of the smallest size that suits our needs. A giant EV can still have an outsized impact.
Comprehensively,
Dot
