Research proves Electric is green(with numbers)
Are Electric vehicles really better for our environment?
Since the launch of Tesla Model 3, the EV for the masses one question has been doing rounds every time EV’s are discussed-
Are EV’s really better than ICE(Internal Combustion Engine) Vehicles for the environment?
There have been many reports and studies stating that production of ICE vehicles takes up lesser CO2 emissions than that for producing an EV.
It was pretty hard believing this but when Mazda- Japanese automaker revealed that they are going to include only a 35KWh battery into their electric offering to reduce their carbon footprint, it intrigued me to get going and research on the emissions stuff.
When I set out on research, four major factors which contribute to emissions throughout the lifespan of a vehicle were identified:
- Production of Vehicle.
- Energy Source
- Well-to-Wheel efficiency.
- End-of-Life
Production of Vehicle
We all are very well exposed to ICE vehicles and need not any form of introduction. They consist of majorly metallic components in the drivetrain, engine, and wiring. Whereas, the EV’s have an electric motor and a battery pack.
The major contributor to the pollution at the production level is mining. Mining of steel for the body panels, lithium and cobalt for the huge battery packs powering the electrical vehicles.
The major setback for EV’s is the amount of lithium and cobalt that needs to be mined to mass-produce lithium-ion batteries. Each battery cell consists on average of about 6% of Lithium and around 28% percent of Cobalt.
Most of the lithium comes from the nations of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, also known as the lithium triangle. The main source of lithium mining is brine water, which leads to an overall consumption of around 60% of water available in the region, leading to an overall reduction of available water for agriculture purposes. Due to the overconsumption of water in lithium mining, the farmers in this region are left with a tiny portion of water to grow their crops.
Cobalt is mined mostly in the poor nations in Africa where child labour is prevalent. Hence, introducing an ethical aspect to this issue. Apart from child labour the nation of Congo also suffers the problem of water scarcity. They are one of the worst-hit African nations due to water scarcity. This eventually leads to much more environmental harm than simply extracting these metals.
According to many research papers published, the average amount of CO2 emissions manufacturing an EV with a 50KWh battery pack is around 15–16 tons, and that for an average ICE vehicle is around 8 tons.
ICE — 1
EV — 0
Energy Source
Electric vehicles use electricity to operate. Electricity is stored in the battery packs, which in turn power the motor to propel the vehicle.
In the United States not all electricity is produced using coal and natural gas, but around 20% of electricity produced is from renewable sources. California is leading with approximately 35% of electricity coming from renewable sources.
In recent years there has been a paradigm shift in the adoption of renewable energy across the globe. Some nations like the Netherlands have been the pioneers in the early adaptation of renewable energy and also the major stakeholder in the current EV market. With the amount of electricity being produced from natural resources is increasing at a steady pace, we can infer that in upcoming years the CO2 emissions from the electricity generation will go down significantly.
But, many nations in the world still rely on coal, petroleum and natural gas to produce electricity. Hence, emitting all the greenhouse gases into the environment.
The Internal Combustion Engines use gasoline for fuel. To produce gasoline crude oil is extracted by drilling into the Earth’s crust. When the crude oil is extracted it has to further undergo various processes to be converted into gasoline. Then the gasoline is transferred from the oil refineries to the gas stations. This whole process leads to the release of staggering amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Later on the engine takes up the gasoline and further converts the chemical energy into kinetic energy finally propelling the car.
Taking into account the amount of electricity produced in the United States from renewable resources and that from non- renewable too, we have roughly estimated that an average driver in the United States using an EV will lead to production of 3.2 tonnes of CO2 every year for an average mileage of about 11,000 miles. Whereas the same person with an ICE power vehicle will lead to 5.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
Hence, we can reduce about 2 tonnes of green house emissions every year.
EV — 1
ICE — 1
Well to Wheel Efficiency
To compute the well to wheel energy efficiency of any vehicle, we start with the energy content of the source (e.g. coal, crude oil, or natural gas) as it comes from the ground. We then track the energy content of this fuel as it is converted to its final product (e.g. gasoline or electricity), subtracting the energy needed to transport the fuel to the car. Finally, we use the fuel efficiency of the car itself (e.g. its advertised mpg or equivalent gas miles) to complete the equation.
Assuming all the energy losses during electricity production and transmission we can safely assume that we are getting around 54% energy at our charging station of what was recovered from the fuel/renewable resource.
The charger converts the electricity from AC input from the grid to DC and then transfers to the battery pack. When the vehicle is running then again the electricity is converted from DC to AC, powering the motor. This whole converting and transmitting has an efficiency rating of about 84% on average.
Hence providing us with a total of 44% of well to wheel efficiency for an electric vehicle.
On the other side, the gasoline is extracted from crude oil and here we get an average efficiency of 92% of the total energy stored in the gasoline. Once this gasoline is used in a vehicle it explodes and in turn rotates the engine hence moving the vehicle. The average efficiency of a running ICE engine is around 22%.
Hence for an average ICE powered vehicle we get around….
Hope, it is not that bad
It is indeed Bad, only around 24% of total energy efficiency.
The Electric Vehicles are the clear winners with more than double the well to wheel efficiency.
This is huge setback to all the die hard EV haters who would always brag about EV’s being worse than ICE-cars in well to wheel efficiency.
EV — 2
ICE — 1
End Of Life
Every vehicle needs to retire from the road at one time or another. After some time, the vehicle is unfit to ply on the road. Getting rid of it is the only available option.
Since Electric Vehicles are new to the market and are very few(just around 3%), the scrap or recycling market is not very prevailing at this point.
The major reason no one wants to take risks with recycling EVs is the batteries. As of now it is very hard to dispose of batteries. Battery fires have been a major concern ever since.
Currently batteries are often shipped off to other nations such as Thailand and the Philippines where they are left to deteriorate in the open landfills, leading to further toxification of the environment.
As the interest in Electric Vehicles is constantly increasing we will very soon have a proper way to recycle or reuse the batteries or their constituents to reduce the environmental footprint.
The Internal Combustion vehicles have been there for ages. They can be ripped to a single bolt very easily. Every part of a vehicle can be recycled and reused.
Hence, until further technological advancements in recycling of batteries EV’s remain a potential threat to the environment.
EV — 2
ICE — 2
Since the scores are identical for both sides but, the electric vehicles are having a clear environmental and economic advantage over conventional IC Engine-powered vehicles. With further advancements in technology EV’s will turn out to be much greener than today.
I think we could easily double the energy capacity of what we have right now. We have cells in the testing that, if you run the numbers for a thin-film cell of reasonable size, you end up with two to three times current lithium-ion cells.
But there’s more. Chromium, if we could stabilize chromium as a material for battery cathodes. I could…give you a battery with 600–700 watts per kilogram of energy capacity. — Donald Sadoway, MIT Material Science
Today there has been enormous amounts of money pumped into developing new battery technology for better electric vehicles.
We have started to see prominent results under the testing phase. If we can achieve high energy density batteries then the electric commercial flight will be a possibility very soon.
The tool used for comparison graphics. Climobil is an interactive tool developed under project connecting for better understanding of EV adoption.
