Why are Electric Cars Good for the Environment?

Electric cars are often raised as a very environmentally friendly alternative to cars with internal combustion engines. However, there are sometimes reports that question whether electric cars are really so favorable for the environment and climate – what is the truth?

Modern studies show that the production of both internal combustion cars and electric cars actually has a similar environmental impact apart from the electric car’s battery and the MAJOR climate impact that these types of cars create is later created during the life cycle where the car is used.

Wear on, for example, tires and engines create airborne particles.

Fossil fuels always emit large emissions in internal combustion engines.

The energy that electric cars consume depends on the electricity grid’s energy mix where it is best if it consists of the cleanest possible energy; nuclear power, hydropower, wind power.

Battery

The electric car’s battery is sometimes painted as environmentally harmful. Considerable amounts of energy are used in the various manufacturing processes that together create the battery. Many rare earth metals are used, such as lithium and cobalt, whose extraction and refining has an environmental impact. A study has found that it is of the utmost importance where, and how, the battery is manufactured.

Manufacturing in China, for example, has a significantly greater negative environmental impact than when batteries are manufactured in Western markets. One shining example of such a factory is Tesla’s “Gigafactory 1” in Nevada. Gigafactory 1 is one of the world’s largest buildings in area, where all cells are manufactured for Tesla’s Model 3 car batteries. The plant, which is still under construction, when completed, intends to be driven largely by renewable solar and wind energy.

Mining and refining of rare earth metals have a partly unknown impact, as there is no exhaustive study as there is a lack of transparency in the markets where these are mainly extracted. However, there are producers where greater control and care for the environment can be brought about.

Wear

Of course, tires and engine parts are worn continuously on all cars, which partly contributes to the environmental impact where they are replaced or the car is scrapped. This wear and tear often create dust or particles (mainly of tires, for example) which are considered to be a kind of emission into the atmosphere.

However, it is worth mentioning that electric motors have much lower wear due to their simple and efficient design. These engines have fewer moving parts, a much better service life, and fewer service requirements. It is also much more energy-efficient than diesel or gasoline engines, in other words you get more power for each unit of energy with electric motors.

Fuel

In those countries where the electric car’s energy needs can be met with environmentally friendly forms of energy, such as Norway and France (hydropower and nuclear power), electric cars are considered to be the cleanest vehicle form with much fewer emissions than the average car in Europe. The propellant is the largest single emission point for internal combustion cars and it is especially here that electric cars shine.

The composition of the electric mix and the time of day that the car is charged have been found to have a major impact on emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents. In the countries that use a lot of solar energy, the environment obviously benefits from charging electric cars during the day when the sun is shining, but this is not often smooth.

But even with coal, the most common and largest source of energy, the environmental problem varies widely between the type of power plant and the country of production. And coal, too, often gives lower climate impact than diesel and gasoline, since coal can be extracted very efficiently on an industrial scale as well as the electric car’s efficient engine that gets more of the fuel.

An energy form that is often viewed with disbelief, but which modern research shows as an exemplary energy source with very little risk and no emissions, is fission power. Modern nuclear power is proven to be incredibly safe, efficient and environmentally friendly. If the reactors are built in locations that are safe for natural disasters, only the controversy surrounding the final disposal of the radioactive nuclear fuel remains an issue that has historically involved many.

However, the fact is that there are very good opportunities to reuse fuel in reactors but that this is usually not done because it is simply so cheap to just buy full-fledged uranium. With the right kind of incentive structure, final storage will no longer be a fate issue.

One cannot reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when one liter of fossil fuel is burned, but with an advantageous energy composition, electric cars can have many times lower emissions. In this way, electric cars are secured for a more environmentally friendly future.