The term “zero emissions” has become synonymous with electric vehicles. Most people assume “zero emissions” means no pollutants at all. But that’s not exactly true. Some pure electric vehicles, in fact, do have emission-free onboard power sources as they are driven. But, one must consider the environmental impacts of the entire life cycle of electric cars.
Manufacturing
The components needed to manufacture the vehicles produce harmful pollutants. Consider the batteries, plastic, rubber, glass, fabric, metal, and other items used in this process. Both gas and electric cars use the majority of these items except, of course, for the lithium-ion batteries found in electric vehicles. We have to be careful blindly assuming that environmentally it’s a net win to simply replace current gas vehicles with shiny new electric vehicles. These gas vehicles, after all, are already manufactured. The environmental cost of manufacturing them can’t be erased by pulling them off the road and shortening their lifespan for a new EV that itself must be manufactured.
This is a nuance that was largely missed in the excitement of the Cash for Clunkers program of a couple of years ago. Even though the program introduced newer vehicles with better fuel efficiency when compared to existing cars, the weakness was that still functional vehicles were being pulled off the road. If the program had replaced only the cars that that had reached the end of their useful lifetime with newer vehicles with greater fuel economy would have made perfect sense. But pulling from the road an otherwise working gas vehicle to be replaced by an electric vehicle that otherwise might not have been manufactured complicates the matter.
Electricity Production
Producing electricity that charges electric vehicles also has an environmental impact. Despite the attention that has paid to renewable energy in recent years, most of the electricity in the U.S. is still generated from traditional fuel sources like coal and natural gas. In Texas, for instance, most electricity comes from natural gas. Though consumers can choose electric companies using renewable energy sources. While most Texas electric providers offer specific green energy plans, the higher electricity rates mean most consumers choose non-green plans.
Disposal
Eventually even the new electric cars will need to be retired. This comes with its own set of environmental issues. Electric vehicles use lithium ion batteries that eventually wear out and require replacing. The environmental cost of disposing of the batteries and manufacturing replacement batteries should not be overlooked.
To be fair most people agree that EVs are still a better bet for the environment. However, even electric vehicles have a carbon footprint; just not in the obvious ways.