Are Electric Cars as Green as We Think They Are?
Electric car being charged (AZBigMedia)
By Rishi Gupta
If you’ve ever crossed Union Square in New York City, within the last year or so, you would have seen the Climate Clock- which counts down to the critical point at which global warming would reach an increase of 1.5-degrees Celsius. This is representative of the increased awareness towards climate change that has caused some unrest in most of our day-to-day activities, encouraging us to look for climate friendly changes to our lifestyle. Apart from upcycling and reducing the consumption of plastic, among the most common changes that people have made is choosing to use electric vehicles (EVs). This is typically regarded as one of the best ways to fight climate change and is becoming a more and more popular option for people. However, have enough of us changed to create any effect? EVs may not be as green as we think, and we may just be fooling ourselves.
Let's first look at why we consider them to be greener. All EVs seem to be more eco-friendly than gasoline powered vehicles because they produce only 4% of CO2 emissions in the transportation sector as opposed to gasoline vehicles’ 72% share. An all-electric Chevrolet Bolt, for instance, can be expected to produce 189 grams of carbon dioxide for every mile driven over its lifetime, on average. By contrast, a new gasoline-fueled Toyota Camry is estimated to produce 385 grams of carbon dioxide per mile. The Ford F-150 is even worse, producing 636 grams of carbon dioxide per mile, more than triple that of the Bolt. With this information, it seems clear and obvious that EVs are substantially better for the environment than gasoline vehicles. But, while in use they are better for the environment than gasoline powered cars, their production process could lead to a significant amount of planet warming emissions, offsetting their sustainability on the road. On top of this, the majority of EVs are charged up on coal-heavy grids, such as those found in the Midwest, leading to an increase in CO2 emissions when these vehicles are charged.
Along with the scrutiny of their electricity sources, another argument that is routinely put forward to highlight how non eco-friendly these vehicles are, is the gasses that are emitted while producing batteries that the cars use. These batteries are made of rare earth elements like lithium, nickel and cobalt, that depend on very pollutant mining activities to be procured, contributing to carbon emissions. A 2018 International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) report shows us that , “the country in which the batteries are being produced as well as the battery composition has a much higher level of impact on overall emissions.”. There are however ways to reduce the impact these kinds of batteries have on the environment. 99% of lead-acid batteries, those used by fossil fuel powered EVs, are recycled in the United States, offsetting many of the negative environmental effects caused in their production. However, in countries in the EU the majority of electric car manufactures use lithium-ion batteries. In 2021, in the EU market, only 5% of lithium batteries were collected and the rest were either incinerated or dumped in landfills, as it wasn’t cost effective to recycle them. Dumping hazardous wastes in landfills is extremely harmful for both the environment as well as people who live in that area, giving rise to several health hazards. This in particular hasn’t made EV’s any greener.
While they are not any greener, companies that produce EVs have done an excellent job to make us believe that we are solving a world problem by consuming their product. According to a 2020 report by First Insight, 73% of Gen Z consumers surveyed were willing to pay more for sustainable products, more than every other generation. This demand for sustainable products among Gen Z consumers is strong and has inspired firms to adopt a Sustainability-targeted marketing strategy, to appeal to their audience. “People are using a storyline that has something with sustainability, low waste, appropriate ingredients or appropriate fabrics that you’ll find on front of their websites, on packaging, as part of their marketing,” said Jenifer Schmidt, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company. “I can’t think of a brand that’s not doing this right now.” At best this seems to be unethical, and in the worst case scenario, companies that are doing it are killing the world faster than their products are.
Electric vehicles in general are greener than gasoline powered cars. They emit much smaller amounts of the emissions that contribute towards the climate issues we’re currently facing. However, since sustainability has become such a spotlighted issue recently, several companies have tried to take advantage of that, marketing their EVs in ways that make them seem more sustainable while hiding all of the behind-the-scenes processes that are actually damaging to the environment. So, while they are definitely better for the environment than gasoline powered cars, they are definitely not as good for the environment as we think they are.
