Electric cars, such as those from Tesla and Leaf, are all the rage and are being presented as a new way to travel by “eco-friendly” car. But that may not be the case, because they COULD be as bad as fossil fuel vehicles, if not a little better, in their own way. Nissan presents the Leaf as a “100% electric” vehicle that generates “zero emissions”. . »Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay But, according to Bjorn Lomborg, writing in a March 11, 2013 Wall Street Journal article, this is incorrect. Consider these facts from Bjorn's article: 1. A comprehensive life cycle analysis published in 2012 in the Journal of Industrial Ecology shows that nearly half of an electric car's carbon dioxide emissions come from the energy used to produce the car, particularly the battery. Lithium mining, for example, is far from green. When an electric car rolls off the production line, it is already responsible for 30,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.2. In contrast, manufacturing a gasoline car accounts for 17% of its lifetime carbon dioxide emissions. The amount to make a conventional car: 14,000 pounds.3. Life cycle analysis shows that for every mile driven, the average electric car indirectly emits about six ounces of carbon dioxide. That's still much better than a conventional car of similar size, which emits about 12 ounces per mile. But remember that electric car production has already resulted in significant emissions – the equivalent of 80,000 miles of vehicle travel.4. If a typical electric car travels 50,000 miles in its life, the huge initial emissions from its manufacture mean that the car will actually have released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than a similarly sized gasoline car driven on same number of kilometers. kilometers. Likewise, if the energy used to charge the electric car comes primarily from coal-fired power plants, it will be responsible for emitting nearly 15 ounces of carbon dioxide for each of the 50,000 miles driven, or three ounces more than a similar gasoline car.5. Even if the electric car travels 90,000 miles and the owner stays away from coal-fired electricity, the car will produce only 24% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than its gas-powered cousin. We are far from “zero emissions”. Over its entire lifespan, the electric car will be responsible for 8.7 tonnes less carbon dioxide than the average conventional car.6. These 8.7 tonnes may seem considerable, but they are not. The current best estimate of the damage caused by global warming to an additional ton of carbon dioxide is about $5. This means that an optimistic assessment of the avoided carbon dioxide associated with an electric car will save the world about $44 in climate damages by its owner. In the European emissions market, a credit for 8.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide costs $48.7. Yet the U.S. federal government essentially subsidizes electric car buyers to the tune of $7,500. Additionally, more than $5.5 billion in federal grants and loans go directly to battery and electric car manufacturers. This is a very bad deal for taxpayers. Another article explaining why electric cars may not be the best solution comes from David C.Holzman: In an effort to boost sales, the Chinese government recently announced it would eliminate the 10% sales tax on domestic electric cars, in addition to full government subsidies. up to $19,000 per car. But despite their eco-friendly reputation, electric cars in China cause, per kilometer traveled, more than 3.5 times more premature deaths linked to air pollution than gasoline cars, according to new estimates calculated for the 34 most major cities of the country. the researchers calculated emissions per person-km traveled, that is, per person traveling 1 km in a vehicle (if 15 people travel 10 km in a bus, the bus accumulates 150 person-km). They looked at five types of vehicles: electric cars (excluding hybrids), electric bicycles and scooters (e-bikes), gasoline cars, diesel cars and diesel buses. They estimated tailpipe emissions from gasoline and diesel vehicles based on emission standards and figures published in peer-reviewed literature. Electric vehicles do not produce combustion emissions themselves; rather, the impact of their emissions comes from the power plants that produce the electricity they use. The vast majority of electricity in China is produced by coal (compared to just under 50% in the United States). Emissions from electric vehicles come not from gasoline or diesel, but from coal and other energy sources used to power the electricity grid. Although vehicle-specific mortality varies widely between cities, electric cars are estimated to cause more premature deaths than gasoline cars in 33 of 33 countries. the 34 cities surveyed. “Emissions from coal-fired power plants are relatively high in China due to lower quality coal and fewer plants using emissions control technologies,” says Julian D. Marshall, co-author of the report and assistant professor of in environmental engineering at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In Shanghai, for example, power plant emissions associated with electric cars caused about 26 additional deaths per year per 10 billion person-km, compared to 9 additional deaths for gasoline cars. Diesel cars are estimated to cause an additional 90 deaths per 10 billion person-km. Diesel buses, which have lower emissions per person-km than diesel cars because they carry more people, caused around 32 additional deaths, and e-bikes fared the best, causing only an estimated 3 additional deaths. for 10 billion person-km per year. Not surprisingly, the implications of this research for other countries vary. Vietnam, for example, relies much more on natural gas and hydropower than coal for its electric power, Cherry says, so electric cars there cause a third as much pollution as gasoline cars and a tenth as much. global pollution. do in China. Conversely, he says, in India, average PM2.5 emissions from the energy sector are 10% higher than in China, causing more pollution per kilometer per electric car. “It is important to remember that electric vehicles are as clean as electricity. who charges for them, and a clean energy future includes both electric vehicles and a cleaner power grid,” says Don Anair, senior analyst and engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Anair notes that the US grid is cleaner than China's thanks to clean air regulations and increased investment in/