Reasons Electric Vehicles are Green?
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With new major spending plans to invest billions in electric vehicles, some analysts have expressed concern about how green the electric-vehicle industry actually is, with a particular focus on the auto parts supply chain and indirect emissions from the fuel used in the cars, the Electricity used to charge the vehicle.
But a recent study from the Yale School of the Environment found that total indirect emissions from electric vehicles pale in comparison to indirect emissions from fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
In addition to the direct emissions from burning fossil fuels—whether in the tailpipes of conventional cars or in the stacks of power plants to generate electricity—suggesting that electric vehicles have a distinct advantage over conventional vehicles in terms of emissions.
It’s surprising how much lower emissions from electric vehicles are. The supply chain for combustion engine cars is so dirty that EVs can’t match them, even when indirect emissions are taken into account.
The research team combined concepts from energy economics and industrial ecology — carbon pricing, life cycle assessment and energy system modelling — to determine whether carbon emissions are still reduced after accounting for indirect emissions from the Electric Vehicle supply chain.
A major issue with electric vehicles is that the supply chain, including the extraction and processing of raw materials and the manufacture of batteries, is far from clean. If we put a price on the carbon embodied in these processes, then expect electric vehicles to be very expensive. It turned out not to be the case. If you level the playing field by putting a price on carbon in the fossil fuel vehicle supply chain, Electric Vehicle sales will actually increase.
The study also considered future technological changes, such as the decarbonisation of electricity supply, and found that this reinforces the result that Electric Vehicles dominate indirect supply chain emissions.
The research team collected data using the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS), created by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which models the entire U.S. energy system using detailed information from the current domestic energy system and forecasts for the future of the power system.
Wolfram completed life cycle assessments that provided indirect emissions outputs, which were then plugged into NEMS models to understand how a carbon tax on these indirect emissions would change consumer and manufacturer behavior. Weber assisted in modifying the NEMS code.
Reasons Electric Vehicles are Green. According to Wolfram, the study, published in Nature Communications, shows that “the elephant in the room is the supply chain for fossil fuel vehicles, not the supply chain for electric vehicles.” The faster we move to electric vehicles, he points out the better – at least in countries where electricity supply is fully decarbonized.
Gillingham’s research, which focuses on alternative energy adoption in transportation, says the study gives us a better understanding of how comprehensive carbon pricing, including the entire supply chain, can shift consumers to electric vehicles.
Despite a very complex mis-information campaign that has been conducted for a very long time, Electric Vehicles are Greener than people realise. The brakes on many are still the original factory fitted brakes even after 60,000 miles.
Although the Batteries for Electric Vehicles using Cobalt, many don’t realise that Cobalt is added to Petrol and Diesel to reduce Sulphur Emissions. This Cobalt is destroyed by the Combustion Engine and cannot be recycled as a result! This a fact that is deliberately avoided.
Another reason Electric Vehicles are Greener is that when a vehicle is charged at night demand on the Grid is lower so generating the Energy doesn’t need as much Fossil fuels in the Energy mix.
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