Are Electric Cars Worse For The Environment? Myth Busted
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the presenter collaborates with Formula E to address the environmental impact of electric cars compared to gasoline cars. They explore three common concerns: emissions from battery production, the source of electric car power, and the environmental effects of lithium mining. The discussion highlights that electric cars, despite higher initial emissions due to battery production, typically have lower operational emissions and can be more environmentally friendly, especially in regions with cleaner energy grids. The video also touches on the water-intensive nature of lithium mining but compares it favorably to the ecological damage caused by fossil fuel extraction.
Takeaways
- 🚗 The video discusses whether electric cars are better for the environment than gasoline cars, focusing on three common questions.
- ⚡ Producing electric car batteries does result in emissions, but these are often offset by the lower emissions during the vehicle's usage phase.
- 🔌 Electric cars can get their power from various sources, including fossil fuels, but the overall emissions are still lower compared to gasoline cars.
- 🔑 The video emphasizes the importance of checking the credibility of information sources when discussing environmental impacts.
- 🌟 Electric cars require more CO2 emissions to produce due to batteries, but this is offset over time through lower operational emissions.
- 📉 Vehicle production emissions are significant for electric cars, but they are quickly compensated for by the lower emissions during usage.
- 🌱 The environmental impact of lithium mining is a concern, but it's not necessarily worse than the environmental damage caused by fossil fuel extraction.
- 🏎️ Formula E serves as a testing ground for electric vehicle technology and promotes cleaner racing through the use of sustainable energy sources.
- 🌐 The environmental benefit of electric cars varies by region, depending on the source of electricity used for charging.
- 🌿 In most cases, electric cars are environmentally superior to gasoline cars, regardless of the source of the electricity used for charging.
Q & A
What are the three main questions addressed in the video about electric cars and the environment?
-The video addresses whether electric cars are any better for the environment than gasoline cars, focusing on three main questions: 1) Does producing electric car batteries produce a lot of emissions? 2) Don't electric cars get their power from fossil fuels, offsetting any emission benefits? 3) Isn't lithium mining terrible for the environment?
What are the two main sections the video breaks down the discussion of electric cars and emissions into?
-The video breaks down the discussion into two main sections: emissions and materials and mining.
How does the video handle the potential bias from partnering with Formula E?
-The video ensures a balanced perspective by not using Formula E as a source of information regarding the environmental impact of electric cars and by providing citations and links for all information presented.
What is the consensus among the studies reviewed in the video regarding the emissions required to produce electric cars versus gasoline cars?
-Every study reviewed agreed that electric cars require more CO2 emissions to produce than gasoline-powered cars, primarily due to the batteries.
What is the estimated range of CO2 emissions for battery production in electric cars according to the video?
-The video cites a range from about one to five tons for a small battery and about 6 to 17.5 tons for a larger battery pack.
How does the video calculate the break-even point for electric cars to produce less emissions than gasoline cars over their lifetime?
-The video calculates the break-even point by comparing the emissions from vehicle production and annual emissions from vehicle usage, multiplied by time, for both electric and gasoline cars.
What is the significance of the average annual mileage used in the video's calculations?
-The video uses the national average of about 12,000 miles or 19,000 kilometers per year, which is within the capability of any modern electric car, to estimate annual emissions for both types of vehicles.
How does the source of electricity for charging electric cars affect their environmental impact according to the video?
-The video explains that the environmental impact of electric cars varies depending on the source of electricity, with states that rely more on renewable energy providing a greater environmental benefit.
What is the video's stance on lithium mining and its environmental impact compared to fossil fuel extraction?
-While lithium mining is water-intensive and has environmental consequences, the video argues that it is not worse than drilling for oil, especially considering the locations where lithium is extracted.
How does Formula E contribute to the discussion of electric cars and the environment in the video?
-Formula E serves as a testbed for technology and contributes to the discussion by promoting clean energy and tracking environmental impact, aiming to improve urban air quality with electric cars.
What is the main takeaway from the video regarding electric cars and the environment?
-The main takeaway is that electric cars are not worse for the environment than gasoline-powered cars, and in most cases, they are environmentally superior.
Outlines
🚗 Introduction to Electric Car Environmental Impact
The video begins by addressing common concerns about the environmental benefits of electric cars compared to gasoline-powered ones. The presenter outlines three key questions: whether electric car battery production emits significant pollution, if electric cars' power sources negate their emission benefits, and the environmental impact of lithium mining. The video aims to provide well-sourced information to clarify these issues, emphasizing the importance of scrutinizing the credibility of different sources on the topic.
🌟 Emissions from Electric and Gasoline Vehicles
This section delves into the emissions produced during vehicle production and usage. It acknowledges that electric cars require more CO2 emissions to produce due to their batteries, but emphasizes that these are offset by lower emissions during vehicle use. The presenter uses data from various sources, including the US Department of Energy, to compare the annual emissions of gasoline and electric vehicles. The conclusion is that electric cars, even with higher initial emissions due to battery production, surpass gasoline cars in terms of lower lifetime emissions, with the break-even point occurring within a few years of use.
🔋 The Debate on Lithium Mining and Electric Car Production
The final paragraph addresses the environmental impact of lithium mining, a common argument against electric cars. It points out that lithium constitutes only a small percentage of an electric car's battery and is extracted in areas with minimal ecological impact. The video contrasts this with the more significant environmental damage caused by oil extraction in ecologically sensitive areas. The presenter also discusses the role of Formula E in advancing electric vehicle technology and promoting cleaner urban environments, concluding that electric cars are generally more environmentally friendly than their gasoline counterparts.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Electric Cars
💡Emissions
💡Battery Production
💡Fossil Fuels
💡Lithium Mining
💡Renewable Energy
💡End of Life Emissions
💡Plug-in Hybrids
💡Formula E
💡Energy Mix
Highlights
Discussing whether electric cars are better for the environment than gasoline cars.
Three common questions about electric cars' environmental impact will be answered.
Emissions from electric car battery production are compared to those from gasoline cars.
Electric cars require more CO2 emissions to produce due to batteries, but this varies by battery size.
The environmental impact of vehicle production versus vehicle usage is analyzed.
Emissions from vehicle usage are heavily regulated and well-documented.
Average gasoline vehicles in the U.S. create about 5.2 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually.
Electric vehicles produce about 2 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year on average.
Calculating the break-even point for electric cars to have less lifetime emissions than gasoline cars.
Electric cars with smaller batteries reach the break-even point faster.
The environmental impact of lithium mining is discussed in comparison to fossil fuel extraction.
Lithium makes up only about 5-7% of an electric car battery.
Lithium is extracted in desolate areas, minimizing ecological disruption.
Formula E serves as a testbed for electric vehicle technology and promotes clean energy.
Electric cars are not worse for the environment than gasoline-powered cars in any scenario.
In most cases, electric cars are environmentally superior to gasoline cars.
Transcripts
hello everyone and welcome to the fifth
and final video of a series where I have
teamed up with formula e to talk about
electric cars now in this video we're
going to be discussing a very common
question that gets brought up whenever
you're talking about electric cars and
that is our electric cars actually any
better for the environment than a
gasoline car so there's three questions
we're going to be answering in this
video that I think are very commonly
asked first doesn't producing electric
car batteries produce a lot of emissions
with it second don't electric cars get
their power from fossil fuels anyways
offsetting any emission benefits of
those electric cars and finally isn't
lithium mining terrible for the
environment
now this is a highly discussed subject
and there's all kinds of information
floating around out there and so I want
to start by saying that well yes I have
teamed up with formula II for this video
who obviously likes electric cars I'm
not going to be using formula II as a
source of information for any of the
information about whether or not
electric cars are better or worse for
the environment than gasoline cars on
top of this I'm going to provide
citations as well as links with in the
video description for all of the
information provided in this video and I
do agree that it's a good idea you know
to go out there and look at different
videos and that kind of thing
I just want to be sure that when you're
doing so try to see where that
information comes from because many of
them out there don't include citations
and you don't know whether or not you
can actually trust the information
provided okay so it's a highly
complicated topic but I want to break it
down into two main sections that I think
get the most attention first emissions
and then materials and mining so
starting with emissions we need to
answer two questions how much emissions
are produced for vehicle production and
how much emissions result from vehicle
usage based on these two parts of the
equation we can determine which vehicle
is better overall for the life of the
vehicle now of course there are
emissions related to the vehicles end of
life getting rid of it once it's no
longer useful however a study out of
Yale University found that end of life
emissions for both electric cars and
gasoline-powered cars is relatively low
very low in comparison to usage and
production so we're not going to be
looking at end of life emissions in this
video all right so the first part of the
question is vehicle production and
there's a wide variety of estimates out
there as far as the carbon
required to produce a vehicle now that
makes sense because there's a wide
variety of vehicles out there so I
looked at about a dozen studies looking
at what are the average emissions
required to produce the average vehicle
and so I saw a low estimate a study out
of MIT saying about two metric tons of
carbon required to produce a vehicle and
then I saw a cost analysis saying as
high as 17 metric tons in order to
produce a vehicle now every single study
I looked at agreed that electric cars
require more co2 emissions to produce
than gasoline-powered cars and this is
primarily because of the batteries so
they range from about 15% more emissions
to about 70% more emissions now this
percentage is based on the size of the
battery so a small Nissan Leaf battery
will require about a third of the carbon
emissions to produce versus a larger
Tesla battery so it's important when
you're buying an electric car that you
buy the right size battery for your
needs for the purposes of this video
we're going to give the combustion
engine every benefit of the doubt and so
we're going to assume that both of these
vehicles require the same baseline of
emissions to produce them assuming you
don't include the emissions required for
the battery and this is a safe
assumption to make because most studies
show that an electric car would actually
have less emissions than producing an
internal combustion car if it weren't
for the battery then so we're gonna
start with that common baseline and
we'll add on top of that the emissions
required for producing the battery for
just the electric car from the wide
range of estimates out there let's
simply say that it requires 10 metric
tons of co2 emissions to produce a new
car now whether or not that's higher low
doesn't really matter all that much
because we're giving the same number to
both cars then we add the emissions for
battery production the studies I read
showed a range of co2 emissions for
battery production from about one to
five tons for a small battery 30
kilowatt hours like in the previous leaf
- about 6 to 17.5 tons for a larger
battery pack such as the hundred
kilowatt hour pack in a tesla p 100 d so
to play it safe let's go with the higher
estimate so once again we're giving the
internal combustion engine the benefit
of the doubt okay so for the production
of an average gasoline vehicle we start
with 10 metric tons of carbon emissions
for an electric car with a
30 kilowatt hour battery pack we have 10
tons of carbon emissions plus 5.3 tons
of emissions for the battery for an
electric car with a large 100 kilowatt
hour battery pack we add 17.5 metric
tons for the battery so here we can
clearly see that producing an electric
car requires more emissions now it's
time to get into vehicle use emissions
thankfully there are wonderful data
resources on vehicle emissions as this
is something that is heavily regulated
so on every single vehicle Munro knee
you'll see the emissions the vehicle
produces the US Department of Energy
summarizes this data and you can see
that the average gasoline vehicle in the
United States creates 11,000 435 pounds
or about 5.2 metric tons of co2
emissions each year this is while
driving the national average of about
12,000 miles or about 19,000 300
kilometers per year that's an average
commute of about 33 miles per day which
is well within the capability of any
modern electric car this is something
you can verify looking at a vehicle
Munroe nice sticker take this pickup
truck as an example it produces 528
grams of co2 per mile multiply that by
the average annual mileage and you get
6.2 for metric tons of co2 per year
about 20% higher than the average u.s.
vehicle which is at 5.2 metric tons per
year the alternative fuels data center
also provides us with emissions for
electric vehicles and this is
specifically based on the electric mix
that provide charging for the electric
vehicle so a state like West Virginia
which is heavily coal dependent will
have much different numbers than a state
like Idaho which is heavily
hydroelectric dependent looking at
national averages we can get a good idea
of electric cars as a whole which
produce about four thousand four hundred
fifty five pounds of co2 emissions each
year or about two metric tons now here
comes the fun part where we can start
making conclusions based on this data if
we take the amount of carbon for
gasoline vehicle production and add to
that the amount of annual emissions
multiplied by T for time and set this
equal to the amount of carbon for
electric vehicle production and add to
that the amount of annual emissions also
multiplied by T then by solving for T we
get the exact number of years required
in order for an electric car to have
less life time emissions than a gasoline
car putting in the numbers for the
average gasoline vehicle in the United
States against the average 30 kilowatt
hour battery electric car using the
average energy mix we find out that
after just one point six seven years an
electric car is already producing less
emissions than its gasoline competitor
with many many years of useful life to
come in fact even if you had to replace
the battery meaning you have the
additional carbon of that second
battery's production you'd still
break-even in less than three and a half
years and clearly batteries are going to
last far longer than a couple years
because manufacturers are providing
eight year hundred thousand mile
warranties with them now the story isn't
quite as clean once you start getting
into the higher capacity batteries so
doing the same car comparison with a
hundred kilowatt hour battery versus the
average gasoline car results in five
point five years needed to offset the
carbon production but five point five
years is still way less than an electric
cars useful life remember these cars
have very few moving parts and they
require much less preventative
maintenance than gasoline cars and again
these are using conservative estimates
for the carbon emissions related to
battery production if we go with more
lenient estimates a 30 kilowatt hour
electric car could offset its emissions
in less than four months and a hundred
kilowatt hour electric car in less than
two years going back to national
averages with conservative estimates
it's also important to see where your
power comes from for example I live in
the state of Idaho where a small
electric battery will be offset in just
one point one years and a larger
electric car in just three point six
years if the majority of the state's
energy comes from coal however like in
West Virginia a small evie takes five
point four years and a larger one takes
as much as 17 point eight years so if
you're driving a tesla P 100 D in West
Virginia you're not doing the
environment any favors but you probably
didn't have the environment in mind
anyways when you were buying a crazy
fast 135 thousand dollar sports sedan
even using more generous carbon
emissions numbers it would take 6.1
years for 100 kilowatt hour electric car
in West Virginia to produce less
emissions than the average gasoline car
a smaller battery however would only
take one
year so driving a car like the leaf even
in a coal powered state is still better
for the environment than a gasoline car
in fact there isn't a single state in
the u.s. in which driving a purely
gasoline-powered car is the greenest
option but likewise driving electric car
isn't the best option in every state
either only in about half of the states
and the other half it's better to drive
a plug-in hybrid or a hybrid vehicle
which have smaller batteries and thus
have less emissions but as electricity
production becomes greener in other
areas which it tends to do an electric
car becomes the best option now these
numbers bring up an interesting
revelation because I had always thought
it would be better to continue driving
your old car rather than purchasing a
new cleaner car because you don't have
the emissions related with producing
that car but it turns out the numbers
show otherwise numbers show the vast
majority of automotive emissions come
from vehicle use in gasoline cars not
from production if you were to buy a
brand new small battery electric car
from an emission standpoint the new car
will be in the green in less than five
years so if you take two people and both
of them are driving the same old
gasoline car and one of them sells today
and buys an electric car and the other
continues driving the older car in just
five years
the electric car will be the green or
option of those two scenarios now I
don't want this to imply that we should
all be buying new cars all the time
obviously this isn't green and when
thinking about cars obviously using a
three thousand pound object to transport
you know 150 pound object is not the
most efficient or green way of doing so
riding your bike or walking is going to
be a much greener option but we are
comparing between an electric car and a
gasoline car and so it's a myth to say
between that comparison that an electric
car is worse for the environment than a
gasoline car okay so we've talked about
emissions but I do want to briefly touch
on lithium mining because this is
something that's often brought up when
deeming electric cars not
environmentally friendly in comparison
to gasoline cars so there's several
things here first of all lithium makes
up far less of an electric cars battery
than you might think only about five to
seven percent it's latched on to because
it's in the name you know
lithium-ion battery but in reality their
elements like cobalt nickel which are
actually more important and these
elements are also more profitable to
recycle which I've explained in a
previous video talking about recycling
electric car batteries but is lithium
mining horrible for the environment so
one of the interesting things about
choosing to attack the lithium as a way
to say that electric cars are bad for
the environment is that lithium is
extracted in extraordinarily desolate
places like the Atacama Desert in Chile
which is one of the world's leading
producers of lithium so lithium is
extracted from a brine of beneath desert
salt flats and then brought to the
surface where you then evaporate off
that water and you're left behind with
this liquid goo of lithium and other
components that you can further refine
down to the lithium and so it is a very
water intensive process and that is an
environmental consequence of mining for
lithium but from an ecological
standpoint this happens in an area where
hardly any life forms could actually
survive drilling for oil for guests lien
powered cars on the other hand often
happens in more biodiverse and more
ecologically fragile ecosystems such as
ocean floors or the tar sands in Canada
in addition to you know the more
desolate areas like in Saudi Arabia
where the environmental impacts may not
be quite as apparent and again I think
it's worth repeating that I'm not saying
that mining for lithium is good for the
planet
it's just untrue to say that mining for
lithium is worse than drilling for oil
and taking large amounts of carbon out
of the ground and placing it into the
atmosphere now on the subject of
electric cars and getting more into
formula II formula e acts as a testbed
for many auto manufacturers which have
been joining in including Nissan for the
start of the fifth season where car
swaps have been eliminated and one car
is used for the full race each car gets
just one battery which has to last the
full season and there have only been two
battery failures in racing over the
first four seasons which is pretty
impressive when you compare this to how
frequently other motor sports are
replacing engines they also produce the
energy for charging the cars using
glycerin generators for their clean
emissions and they track their
environmental impact and how well
they're improving it on their website
which is interesting to see a breakdown
of it's also part of their goal to be
bringing formula e to cities to help
draw attention to how air
can be improved in urban areas by using
electric cars overall the main takeaway
from this video which i think is pretty
intuitive from the beginning is that
electric cars certainly aren't any worse
for the environment than
gasoline-powered cars regardless of
where your energy comes from to charge
that electric car and in the vast
majority of cases they're
environmentally superior to gasoline
cars so thank you all so much for
watching and if you have any questions
or comments of course feel free to leave
those below
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