How environmentally sustainable are Electric Vehicles (EVs)?

It’s official, from 2030 there will be a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, followed in 2035, by a ban on all new hybrid cars. From then on, all new cars must be fully electric. However, even with the ban, we can still expect to see petrol and diesel cars on the roads well into the 2040s.

The uptake of EVs was initially hampered by high purchase costs, worries about range, recharging times and exactly how sustainable and environmentally friendly EVs really are. But are these concerns still valid?

Well, it’s fair to say, on balance over the lifecycle of a car, the answer is, no they aren’t – EVs are demonstrably greener and more sustainable than their equivalent internal combustion-powered models. What’s more, ever improving infrastructure and battery technology means they’re becoming more affordable and practical.

What are Electric Vehicles green credentials?

Well, first and foremost, unlike petrol and diesel cars EVs don’t emit any nasty emissions such as CO2, Nitrous Oxides and chemical particulates (apart from brake and tyre wear). The argument goes, by removing these exhaust emissions, we’ll improve air quality and help slow down global warming.

Nothing too contentious there, but the key counter is how the electricity is generated which is used to re-charge the vehicles. In the UK and EU where we have a good mix of gas, nuclear and increasingly renewable sources such as wind, EVs will usually cause much less CO2. What’s more, as the supply of electricity from renewable sources increases, the more sustainable they become.

A 2021 Reuters article quoting figures from ENTSO-E, described the carbon emissions avoided by choosing an electric vehicle by country. This showed in countries with very high renewable and nuclear generation capacity such as Switzerland, Norway and France, choosing an EV could see up to 95% carbon emission reduction – in the UK the figure was about 70%.

How sustainable is battery manufacture for Electric Vehicles?

It’s true batteries contain rare metals including Cobalt and Lithium. These are difficult to extract and refine resulting in energy intensive processing.

However, despite the higher emissions related to the manufacture of the battery, it’s estimated this deficit would be repaid on average after 2 to 3 years of driving depending how the electricity used to charge the EV is generated.

Mining companies along with car and battery manufacturers are also working to improve the technology and processes, so we should expect to see these challenges overcome in time. Particularly as battery manufacturing moves to countries using high levels of renewable energy.

Will Electric Vehicle batteries wear out and become a toxic hazard?

The performance of all batteries degrades over time, but the real-world experience to date suggests this won’t be problem. It’s anticipated these batteries should retain sufficient capacity to be effective over the life of a car and manufacturers are backing this with battery warranties.

Let’s not forget, you’re unlikely to find a 10-year-old combustion engine which provides the same power as it did when it was new.

It’s also very unlikely batteries will end up on a scrap heap or landfill once their life in the vehicle has ended. There are schemes being set up to turn them into electrical storage units which can be connected to the grid to store electricity when there’s excess supply and feed it back in when there’s excess demand.

Even when they’re no longer useful for this, they’ll have a significant value to make it worthwhile recycling them to extract the rare earth metals.

What’s Next?

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