How Green Are Electric Cars?

'Earth's Environment' is facing a threat due to human activities like industrialization and deforestation. To protect the environment, many technological developments are being made daily. One such example is the advancements in the automobile industry, where electric vehicles are becoming more popular day by day. But, a huge part of society also has a misconception that these vehicles do more harm to our environment than good. The ‘Long Tailpipe Argument’ is one of the most important and popular misconceptions.

It’s the idea that once you take into account the environmental costs of manufacturing, electric vehicles are just as polluting over their lifetime as vehicles using, fossil fuels. This is true to some extent manufacturing an average petrol car equivalent to 5.6 tonnes of CO2 emission, the same for an electric car that goes up to 8.8 tonnes. But, this is just one side of a much bigger picture. Once you add the manufacturing aspect with years of driving electric vehicles produce less than half the global warming emissions, compared to their fossil-fuelled counterparts.

Like any other battery, those used in an electric vehicle also loses power over time, in simpler terms even its efficiency reduces. Batteries in smaller electric vehicles need replacing after every 8-10 years, and those in buses and vans need new ones after every 4-5 years. This is also an important aspect of how they affect our environment because batteries take a lot of resources to produce and their chemicals can be toxic. Fortunately, these batteries can be reused and even recycled.

Most electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries, like the ones used in laptops cameras and smartphones. Presently only 5% of the old li-ion batteries are recycled. This isn't because they can't be recycled, but because of the simple fact that the technology is so new that the right infrastructure is not there yet. These old batteries can even be reused to provide backup power for streetlights, elevators and data centres.

Overall, though an electric car emits more greenhouse gases during its manufacturing stage, it is much greener when you see the bigger picture. The technology involved not only reduces the carbon footprint and helps the environment but also opens the door towards several other advancements that will improve the existing technology and make human life better and easier.

Source:https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/how-environmentally-friendlyare-electric-cars/

Writer - Jinendra Anchalia