ICCT: Research shows electric vehicles are cleaner than internal combustion engine vehicles

A new study has debunked a widely held belief that electric cars are no cleaner than internal combustion engines. It found that over the entire life cycle of an electric car, from mining the materials needed to make it to the final product rolling off the assembly line, it releases fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a gasoline-powered car. And this holds true around the world, from Europe's grid, which has a large share of renewable energy, to India's, which still relies heavily on coal.

This shouldn’t be a big surprise. Fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis. As a result, governments from California to the European Union have proposed phasing out internal combustion engines by 2035. But some still claim that electric cars are only as clean as the grid they run on — and right now, fossil fuels still dominate the energy mix in most places.

“We often come across a lot of lobbying from the auto industry saying that electric cars are not that good if you take electricity production and battery production into account,” said Georg Bieker, a researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a nonprofit research group that published the report. “We wanted to investigate this and see if there is any truth to these arguments.”

The report estimates emissions from medium-sized electric vehicles registered in 2021 in India, China, the United States or Europe, which account for 70% of global new car sales, and represents other markets around the world, the ICCT said. The analysis found that lifetime emissions from electric vehicles in Europe are 66% to 69% lower than those of gas-guzzling cars. In the United States, electric vehicles have emissions that are 60% to 68% lower. In China, where coal still accounts for a large share, electric vehicle emissions are 37% to 45% lower. In India, the proportion is 19% to 34% lower.

It’s worth noting that the study assumes the vehicle is registered in 2021 and will be on the road for about 18 years. The study authors ended up with a range of potential emissions reductions for each region by looking at the energy mix under existing policies and the International Energy Agency’s projections for the future electricity mix as climate policies evolve. But it’s difficult to predict how much the world’s energy infrastructure will actually change. In the United States, for example, President Joe Biden has set a goal of getting 100% clean electricity by 2035 — but policy will still need to be passed to make that happen. The study also doesn’t take into account other non-climate-related environmental impacts that building a car might have from factors like mining and waste.

In reality, manufacturing electric cars is still slightly more carbon intensive than manufacturing conventional cars. Recycling electric car batteries could eventually reduce carbon intensity. But for now, electric car drivers start to reap climate benefits after driving their car for a year or so. At that point, the emissions the car saves by running on cleaner electricity make it a better climate choice than a conventional car.

From cnbeta