Are Electric Vehicles Good For The Planet?

 Electric vehicles have grown in popularity over the years. As the planet gasps for ways to end pollution, electric vehicles seem to be a partial answer to this problem. Or is it really?

In the 1800s when automobiles started to replace horse-drawn carriages, inventors experimented with different fuels. Initially, steam-powered vehicles came to the forefront, but soon gasoline powered vehicles started to dominate. Now, advancements in technology and concern about fossil fuels have put electric vehicles on the map.

The global electric vehicle (EV) sector is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9% between 2023 and 2035, according to new report from data and analytics company GlobalData, Power Technology’s parent company. Broken down by vehicle type, the report finds that the passenger EV market is expected to register a CAGR of 26.1% during this period, while the commercial EV sector is predicted to grow 15% during the same time frame.

The sale of battery electric passenger cars is forecast to reach 44 million units by 2035, representing huge growth compared with the 7.3 million units sold in 2022. The total sale of battery electric commercial vehicles reached approximately 400,000 units in 2022 and is expected to grow to 7.6 million units by 2035, according to GlobalData. The report finds that total EV vehicles sales globally are forecast to reach 51.6 million in 2035.

In India, the electric vehicle (EV) market is at an inflection point. EVs accounted for about 5% of total vehicle sales between October 2022 and September 2023—and could reach more than 40% penetration by 2030 (see Figure 1), driven by strong adoption (45%+) in both two-wheeler (2W) and three-wheeler (3W) categories.

However, the big question is, are EVs really green?

If you assume electric vehicles are drawing their power from a grid which includes a mix of fossil fuel and renewable power plants, then they’re almost always much greener than conventional cars. Even though electric vehicles are more emissions-intensive to make because of their batteries, their electric motors are more efficient than traditional internal combustion engines that burn fossil fuels. But that’s just an average. On the other hand, if the EV is charged up on a coal-heavy grid, such as those currently found in the US Midwest, it can actually be a bit worse for the climate than a modern hybrid car like the Toyota Prius, which runs on gasoline but uses a battery to bolster its mileage.

This NY Times Article says it all:

• The bigger problem for EVs is the raw materials they rely on. The lithium-ion cells that power most electric vehicles rely on raw materials — like cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements — that have been linked to grave environmental and human rights concerns. Cobalt has been especially problematic.
• Mining cobalt produces hazardous tailings and slags that can leach into the environment, and studies have found high exposure in nearby communities, especially among children, to cobalt and other metals. Extracting the metals from their ores also requires a process called smelting, which can emit sulfur oxide and other harmful air pollution.
• And as much as 70 percent of the world’s cobalt supply is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a substantial proportion in unregulated “artisanal” mines where workers — including many children — dig the metal from the earth using only hand tools at great risk to their health and safety, human rights groups warn.
• The world’s lithium is either mined in Australia or from salt flats in the Andean regions of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, operations that use large amounts of groundwater to pump out the brines, drawing down the water available to Indigenous farmers and herders. The water required for producing batteries has meant that manufacturing electric vehicles is about 50 percent more water intensive than traditional internal combustion engines. Deposits of rare earths, concentrated in China, often contain radioactive substances that can emit radioactive water and dust.
• Focusing first on cobalt, automakers and other manufacturers have committed to eliminating “artisanal” cobalt from their supply chains, and have also said they will develop batteries that decrease, or do away with, cobalt altogether. But that technology is still in development, and the prevalence of these mines means these commitments “aren’t realistic,” said Mickaël Daudin of Pact, a nonprofit organization that works with mining communities in Africa.

Are EVs reliable? Though long-term vehicle dependability has declined across the automotive industry, electric cars rank far below their gas-powered counterparts. Higher tire wear is a "sore spot" for EVs, and smartphone apps are troublesome, leading to a lower dependability score. 

Meanwhile in Germany, the incentive program for EVs has been terminated, causing EV sales to plummet.