For the longest time, I wanted to write about the myth that electric cars are no better than gas cars, especially when looking at their full lifecycle, but I never had the time for the required research. And I’m no scientist or engineer either, so how would I ever put together a scientifically correct article anyway? Just recently, I came across a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, and they did a much better job than I ever could have!

In their November 2015 report “Cleaner Cars from Cradle to Grave – How Electric Cars Beat Gasoline Cars on Lifetime Global Warming Emissions”, scientists Rachael Nealer, David Reichmuth and Don Anair explain how they come to the conclusion that electric cars are, in fact, cleaner than gas cars. And they don’t only look at the ’emissions-while-operating’ data, but take a full lifecycle approach, based on data collected for the USA.

Here’s a link to their pdf document. The information is organized into 3 chapters:

• Chapter 1 looks at the “Global Warming Emissions from Driving Electric Vehicles”
• Chapter 2 covers the “Global Warming Emissions from Manufacturing Electric Vehicles”
• Chapter 3 goes into “How Federal Policies Could Increase the Benefits of Electric Vehicles”

Here are a few excerpts:

“This report compares battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) with similar gasoline vehicles by examining their global warming emissions over their “life cycles”—from the raw ma­terials to make the car through manufacturing, driving, and disposal or recycling.”

The analysis revealed:

• “From cradle to grave, BEVs are cleaner. On average, BEVs … produce less than half the global warming emissions of comparable gasoline-powered vehicles, even when the higher emis­sions associated with BEV manufacturing are taken into consideration … excess manufacturing emissions are offset within 6 to 16 months of average driving.”
• “EVs are now driving cleaner than ever before.”
• “EVs will become even cleaner as more electricity is generated by renewable sources of energy.”

Resource Scarcity

We also often hear comments with regard to the scarcity of lithium for the EV batteries. In Chapter 2, the report states: “Production of most lithium-ion BEV batteries requires not only lithium but also cobalt, nickel, and other metals, most of which are mined outside the United States (NMA 2015). Early in the development of BEVs, there were concerns that the demand for lithium for battery production would be greater than its global supply. However, more recent studies have quantified that supply and concluded there is enough lithium for large increases in BEV manufacturing (Gruber et al. 2011). Cobalt and nickel are today’s biggest economic drivers for recycling because the market prices of these metals are relatively high; recycling them not only reduces cost but decreases the amounts of virgin materials extracted and lowers the risk of resource scarcity (Dunn et al. 2014).”

CO2 Emission Savings 

Chapter 2 closes with the following findings: “On average, battery-electric vehicles have much lower global warming emissions than comparable gasoline vehicles, despite higher emissions from vehicle manufacturing … total global warming emissions of the midsize BEV … are 51 percent lower than the comparable midsize gasoline car, thereby saving 29 tons of CO2e. … Total global warming emissions of the full-size BEV … are 53 percent lower than the comparable full-size gasoline car, thereby saving 54 tons of CO2e. … The higher manufacturing emissions of a BEV are quickly offset by emissions savings from driving the vehicle, but how long it takes to realize this benefit depends on where the owner plugs in.”

The report then states the average offset of the extra manufacturing emission in distance and time based on the type of grid being used for charging:

• midsize 84-mile-range BEV:
  • Average grid: within first 4,900 miles (less than six months)
  • Cleanest grid: within first 3,700 miles of driving.
  • Dirtiest grid: within first 13,000 miles (slightly more than a year/typical vehicle owner)
• full-size 265-mile-range BEV:
  • Average grid: within first 19,000 miles (about 16 months of driving)
  • Cleanest grid: within first 15,000 miles (just under one year/average driver)
  • Dirtiest grid: within first 39,000 miles (less than three years/typical vehicle owner)  

And two more pieces of information taken from the 3rd Chapter:

• “A 2013 survey conducted by UCS and the Consumers Union found that 42 percent of American households, representing nearly 42 million American homes with a vehicle, could benefit today from using an electric vehicle (UCS 2013b).”
• “…we expect that over the vehicle’s lifetime an EV driver will save nearly $13,000 on fuel not purchased (Anair and Mahmassani 2012).”

I honestly could go on and on, but it’s all there in the report, so why not read the report instead?! 😉 It is full of graphs, tables and figures, detailed explanations of assumptions and data considered or not considered. I could pretty much copy at least every second sentence, it’s that interesting. If you have the time, I recommend reading the full report. It’s worth it.