EVs produce lower emissions than petrol cars after two years, say scientists

印刷用画面を開く

Posted

Category: (Self-Study) Science/Environment

Switch to Watch View >

Storyline

Hide Storyline

Producing and manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) and their batteries uses a lot of energy, leading many to be skeptical about the environmental benefits of switching to electric.

But a new study says that after two years of use, EVs emit fewer carbon dioxide emissions than vehicles fueled by petrol. The findings are key, as transportation accounts for a significant portion of U.S. emissions.

While EVs run on electricity, which cuts out polluting exhaust emissions, traditional internal combustion engine vehicles run on petrol. Petrol is a fossil fuel that, when burned, drives climate change by emitting greenhouse gases that trap the Earth’s heat.

Researchers from Northern Arizona University and Duke University used a model to evaluate criteria air pollutants, which are monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency due to the harm they cause, and emissions across four potential scenarios for EV market share in the U.S., given how the energy system across the nation might develop over time.

The least ambitious scenario for EV adoption assumed the share of EV sales reaches 31% in 2050, and the most ambitious assumed EVs reach 75% by 2050. EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicle sales in 2024.

They found that during an EV’s first two years of operation, it produces 30% higher carbon dioxide emissions than gasoline vehicles. The higher initial emissions stem from the energy-intensive production and manufacturing processes that go into mining lithium for EV batteries, according to the research.

Previous studies have also shown that battery production is a dirty process and harmful to the environment and communities, leading many to be skeptical about the benefits of switching to electric.

But the new analysis says that after the second year, EVs lead to fewer cumulative CO2 emissions compared to gasoline vehicles.

Part of that is due to a drop in emissions from driving more EVs.

But with higher rates of adoption, the study also said there would be a need for more electricity production, which would potentially boost the use of more energy sources typically associated with lower emissions, such as solar and wind power.

This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.

Script

Hide Script

[Traffic along Sao Paulo’s state highway]

[Man charging his BYD electric vehicle at his house]

[Man driving his BYD EV]

Pankaj Sadavarte (interview): “What we have done is we have taken a lifecycle approach where we also account the upstream and downstream emissions associated with the whole life cycle-based analysis for both the kind of vehicles. And we see that the CO2 emissions in case of a battery electric vehicles over a period of 18 years, assuming the lifetime of the vehicles. We see a consistent decrease in the emissions, not only driven by the on-road vehicles, but also, reduction that has been brought due to electricity production, as in if they are getting more and more renewables, we see more and more decrease in the emissions.”

[Robots performing welding and riveting at Zeekr’s factory]

[Workers on the production line]

Drew Shindell (interview): “In fact, or in practice, when you add a bunch of electric vehicles nobody’s going to build new coal fired power plants to run these things because coal is really expensive compared to renewables. It’s just silly, nobody would, it makes no financial sense to do such a thing. So this really looked at how the grid would respond in the least expensive way.”

[Oil pump in operation]

[Oil pump reflected in puddle of spilled oil]

[Coal-fired Gavin Power Plant operating]

Drew Shindell (interview): “The study is important to show how really misguided the current administration’s policies are in terms of protecting Americans. And if we want to protect us from climate change and from the very clear and local damage from poor air quality, this is a really clear way to do it, is incentivize the switch from internal combustion engines to EVs. And instead the administration seems to be doing whatever the fossil fuel industry would like rather than what’s good for the public at large.”

[Fire burning at LNG facility]

[Heavy traffic in Sao Paulo]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.

The related lesson for this video will be published next Wednesday.