Lesson Fourty-Five: Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles (EVs) has been an emerging field over the last couple of decades with a prominent focus on it over the last few years. While I may not be an engineer or an expert on electric automotive vehicles, I want to start a conversation about the sustainability of this option and equip anyone reading this with the tools they should have to assess if it is the right fit.
Answering the straightforward, yet nuanced question of “are electric vehicles sustainable?” is not easy, While it’s a lot to unpack, we’re going to look at three major areas of consideration to help break it down a bit:
⚡️ Energy Source
🔋 Batteries
💳 Consumerism
ENERGY SOURCE
The main benefit of electric vehicles (EVs) is to not have carbon emissions when driving. However if you’re powering your car with energy that is from a carbon-emitting source (eg. coal, gas), then you’re cancelling out that benefit. 🙅♀️
Luckily, in Canada, 82% of energy powering the country has zero carbon emissions:
Similarly, if you’re like me and live in Ontario, 96% of electricity is produced from zero-carbon emitting sources:
If you learn that your home isn’t powered by renewable energy sources, then you can look into switching your energy provider (pending it’s available in your area) to help power your electric vehicle.
That being said, there is an argument to be made for still getting an electric vehicle and powering it up with non-renewable-based energy (goal, gas) and that has to do with the efficiency of those systems to capture excess energy.
BATTERIES
Both conventional and electric cars require materials for components.
However, at the end of the manufacturing process, electric cars are the ones generating more carbon emissions. Why? Great question. (Gold Star for YOU ⭐️) The answer is two-fold.
Part One: EV batteries are made of rare earth elements (REE) like lithium, nickel, cobalt or graphite which exist beneath the surface of the Earth and require mining activities.
Part Two: The country of battery manufacturing has a huge impact on emissions. For example, Chinese EV battery manufacturers produce up to 60% more CO2 during fabrication compared to North American or European techniques.
CONSUMERISM
It’s great to jump on the sustainable car movement, but a rule of thumb is that it’s always less sustainable to buy something new when your older version works just fine.
That’s it. That’s the point. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. While getting an EV might seem on trend and sexy, try your best to lengthen the time of your purchasing cycle to lessen your demand on the resources needed to meet the demand of the auto industry.
That’s all folks!
I know that was a data-heavy lesson! If you have any questions or want to learn more about anything, please share below!
