Are EVs Greener than ICEs?

Many people think that electric vehicles (EVs) are 100% sustainable and environmentally-friendly. While research has shown that EVs produce on-net less emissions than internal combustion engines (ICEs), they still are not at their full green capacity. For instance, the grid still runs on fossil fuels and then there are the harms of manufacturing. So, EVs do produce less emissions, but this article covers the ways that it isn’t fully green yet and areas of vast improvement.

Let’s take a look at driving first. If a normal ICE drives 100 miles, it will emit 40 kilograms of carbon dioxide (assuming an average car drives around 22 miles for every gallon of gasoline). An electric car, on the other hand, emits 20 kilograms of carbon dioxide for every 100 miles it drives. This is a significant amount less, when looking at raw emissions.

However, EVs run on batteries, which need to charge in order to work, just like the battery in your phone. But, where is this power coming from? On a basic level, all a battery does is store energy by having electricity flow through it. So, when you charge your phone, computer, or EV, you are obviously using electricity to charge it. The problem is, electricity isn’t green. Electricity is a more efficient means of energy production, however electricity is primarily produced by nonrenewable fossil fuels, like natural gas and coal, which emit greenhouse gasses. The fact that electricity is not green is one of the discrete reasons why EVs actually cause emissions: because electricity usage will rise drastically.

Next is battery manufacturing. Electric cars use lithium-ion batteries to function. Lithium is extracted from the Earth in two primary ways, one is hard rock mining, and the second is underground brine reservoirs. In hard rock mining, lithium is essentially extracted from mines then roasted in fossil fuels, emitting 15 tonnes of CO2 for every 1 ton of lithium extracted. Underground brine reservoirs emit less carbon dioxide, but are still harmful. A tremendous amount of water is needed for this extraction, and this process typically happens in water-scarce parts of the world, leaving populations with a lack of water. Along with water, a much larger area of land is needed, compared to hard rock mining, which results in habitat loss and scars in the landscape. Underground brine reservoirs result in 5 tonnes of CO2 for every ton of lithium. While there are less carbon emissions, there is no metric to account for the social cost of harming the communities with a lack of water and leaving gaping holes in the land.

However, there is a third, less harmful, way to produce lithium: geothermal brine. Geothermal brine is a hot, saline solution that is enriched with a variety of minerals, including lithium. It is naturally powered by geothermal energy, so it has lower carbon emissions and much less land and water is used, compared to hard rock mining and underground brine reservoirs. However, geothermal brine is more expensive and not as efficient as hard rock mining and underground brine reservoirs, and is not as widely used as the other, environmentally-harmful methods of extraction. However, eventually, geothermal brine is a potential solution.

While research shows varied amounts of disparity, it is indisputable that the manufacturing of an EV causes significant harm to the climate, local communities, and the land.

Many people blindly accept EVs over ICEs. However, we need to compare them holistically considering the impacts of EVs and ICEs across manufacturing, such as steel consumption, plastic consumption, silicon chips, and batteries, as well as running cost, and the disposal of the vehicle. Research may currently show that EVs are greener, however this does not consider all aspects of an EV, including manufacturing and disposal. EVs are definitely not at their 100% green capacity and much more work and research needs to be done to establish if EVs are really better than ICEs in the status quo and by how much.