Carbon Footprint of EVs
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Driving Electric Cars Produces Little Carbon. Making the Batteries Produces a Lot.
"The world has 15, 18 million electric vehicles now," says Mills. "If we [somehow] get to 500 million, that would reduce world oil consumption by about 10 percent. That's not nothing, but it doesn't end the use of oil."
Most of the world's oil is used by things like "airplanes, buses, big trucks, and the mining equipment that gets the copper to build the electric cars."
Although driving an electric car puts little additional carbon into the air, producing the electricity to charge its battery adds plenty. Most of America's electricity is produced by burning natural gas and coal. Just 12 percent comes from wind or solar power.
Auto companies don't advertise that. "Electric vehicles in general are better and more sustainable for the environment," says Ford's Linda Zhang in a BBC interview.
"She's a Ford engineer," I say to Mills. "She's not ignorant."
"She's not stupid," he replies. "But ignorance speaks to what you know. You have to mine, somewhere on earth, 500,000 pounds of minerals and rock to make one battery."
"Volkswagen published an honest study [in which they] point out that the first 60,000 miles or so you're driving an electric vehicle, that electric vehicle will have emitted more carbon dioxide than if you just drove a conventional vehicle."
You would have to drive an electric car "100,000 miles" to reduce emissions by just "20 or 30 percent, which is not nothing, but it's not zero."
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I’ve lost 20% of the accrued admiration for your masterful parentheses usage last night. Still 80% remaining and a solid net win though.
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And transphobic.
