Uncovering a fraud is uniquely satisfying, which is perhaps
why news outlets continue to provide electric car deniers with a platform to
proclaim they aren’t as green as they appear. But close examination reveals the
latest round of skeptics to be lacking in substance.
Numerous peer-reviewed articles have reached the same
conclusion: From cradle to grave, electric cars are the cleanest vehicles on
the road today. And unlike cars that rely on oil, the production of which is
only getting dirtier over time, the environmental benefits of electric cars
will continue to improve as old coal plants are replaced with cleaner sources
and manufacturing becomes more efficient as it scales up to meet growing
consumer demand.
“Did you account for the pollution from the electricity
it takes to power the vehicles?”
This question has been asked and answered. Using today’s
average American electricity mix of natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, wind,
geothermal, and solar, an electric car emits half the amount of harmful carbon
pollution per mile as the average new vehicle. In states with cleaner mixes,
such as California, it’s only a quarter as much. To find out how clean your electric
car would be today, plug your zip code into the EPA’s “Beyond Tailpipe
Emissions Calculator.” Those benefits will only improve as the electric grid
becomes cleaner over time.
Before the Natural Resources Defense Council began
advocating for vehicle electrification, we did our own homework, publishing a two-volume
report in partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute. The work took
almost two years and concluded that a long-term shift to the use of electricity
as a transportation fuel provides substantial reductions in carbon pollution
and air quality benefits.
It’s essential to take a long view when examining vehicle
electrification, because the electric grid doesn’t stand still. Since the time
we published that report, the EPA has adopted power plant standards for mercury
and other air toxics, ozone-forming emissions, fine particulate pollution,
soot, and coal ash; proposed standards for greenhouse gases from new power
plants; and has been directed by the president to adopt greenhouse gas
standards for existing plants. Meanwhile, 29 states have adopted renewable
energy targets to reduce emissions. Driving on renewable electricity is
virtually emissions-free.
“Did you account for the resources it takes to build the
cars?”
Producing an electric car today requires more
resources than producing a conventional vehicle, generally due to the large
batteries. However, comparing the efficiency of relatively nascent and
small-scale electric vehicle manufacturing to the efficiency of conventional
automobile production, which has benefited from more than a century of
learning-by-doing, is misleading. Automakers are racing to save money and
materials through recycling and more efficient production. Those who win the
race will win the market.
Even with today’s technology, on a lifecycle basis, the
electric car is still the cleanest option available. Higher emissions from
manufacturing are more than offset by the substantial benefits of driving on electricity.
We examined six peer-reviewed academic studies and found that in every
case, electric vehicles win by a substantial margin, with estimates ranging
from 28 to 53 percent lower cradle-to-grave emissions than conventional
vehicles today.
Opponents often rely upon the original version of a
Norwegian study, which has much higher estimates of emissions associated with
the production of electric cars. Those skeptics generally cherry-pick from the
original version of that article, and ignore the fact it was corrected
post-publication, resulting in its estimate of the comparative emissions
benefit rising from 22 percent to 28 percent. In other words, even the source
relied upon by skeptics shows a substantial lifecycle advantage for electric
cars. The Norwegian study finds the lowest benefit relative to the other
articles examined partially because it includes an estimate of
emissions associated with the disposal of advanced battery materials that
is higher than other studies, which brings us to the next question:
“What about mining and disposing of the materials
needed to make the batteries?”
First off, there is no shortage of the materials needed to
make advanced vehicle batteries. A recent article in the Journal of
Industrial Ecology concludes, “even with a rapid and widespread adoption of
electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries, lithium resources are
sufficient to support demand until at least the end of this century.” Another
analysis of the trade constraints associated with the global lithium
market came to a similar conclusion, and noted that even a “five-fold increase
of lithium price would not impact the price of battery packs.” Furthermore,
companies like Simbol Materials are already finding innovative ways
to acquire lithium by harvesting materials from the brine of geothermal
power plants — no mining required.
Secondly, advanced vehicle batteries are unlikely to be
simply thrown away; they’re too valuable. Even once they’re no longer suitable
for automotive use, they retain about 80 percent of their capacity and can be
re-purposed to provide grid energy storage to facilitate the integration of
variable renewable resources, such as wind and solar. Automotive batteries can
also be repurposed to support the electrical grid at the neighborhood level,
preventing the need to invest in costly distribution system equipment. Pacific
Gas &
Electric plans to use money saved through the strategic deployment of
used battery packs in neighborhoods throughout Northern and Central California
to provide electric car drivers with rebates to reduce the purchase price of
new electric cars.
Finally, those batteries that aren’t repurposed will likely
be recycled. Conventional vehicle manufacturing is one of the most efficient
industries in the world — around 95 percent of vehicle parts are recycled,
reducing the energy needed to make more parts. It is worth noting that
conventional lead-acid car batteries are consistently the most recycled product
for which the EPA provides data [PDF], with a recycling rate of 96
percent. Advanced battery recycling could cut associated emissions in half,
according to a 2012 study from researchers at Argonne National Laboratory.
Companies are already investing in such technologies.
In summary, a sustained and serious examination of the
cradle-to-grave impacts of electric cars reveals they are the cleanest option
available today, and that the environmental benefits of vehicle electrification
will only increase over time. That’s not only good news for the eco-conscious,
but for any consumer interested in driving on a cleaner fuel at a price
equivalent to buck-a-gallon gasoline.
Article Credit: www.grist.org
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