Electric Car Owners Shocked: New Study Confirms Electric Vehicles Worse for Climate than Diesel Cars
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A new study out of Germany by Christoph Buchal of the University of Cologne revealed that electric vehicles have “significantly higher CO2 emissions than diesel cars,” due to the large amount of energy used in the mining and processing of lithium, cobalt, and manganese, which are critical raw materials for the production of electric car batteries. German researchers criticized the fact that EU legislation classifies electric cars as zero-emission vehicles, which is a deception because electric cars produce more emissions than diesel vehicles by Mercedes.
The Brussel Times reports that a new German study exposes how electric vehicles will hardly decrease CO2 emissions in Europe over the coming years, as the introduction of electric vehicles won’t lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions from highway traffic.
According to the study directed by Christoph Buchal of the University of Cologne, published by the Ifo Institute in Munich last week, electric vehicles have “significantly higher CO2 emissions than diesel cars.” That is due to the significant amount of energy used in the mining and processing of lithium, cobalt, and manganese, which are critical raw materials for the production of electric car batteries.
A battery pack for a Tesla Model 3 pollutes the climate with 11 to 15 tonnes of CO2. Each battery pack has a lifespan of approximately ten years and total mileage of 94,000, would mean 73 to 98 grams of CO2 per kilometer (116 to 156 grams of CO2 per mile), Buchal said. Add to this the CO2 emissions of the electricity from powerplants that power such vehicles, and the actual Tesla emissions could be between 156 to 180 grams of CO2 per kilometer (249 and 289 grams of CO2 per mile).
German researchers criticized the fact that EU legislation classifies electric cars as zero-emission cars; they call it a deception because electric cars, like the Model 3, with all the factors included, produce more emissions than diesel vehicles by Mercedes.
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I doubt that the study is correct in a broader sense – it focused on Germany, which uses a lot of Polish coal in its electricity production – but we’re right to question whether electric vehicles are as clean as we’d like to think. See also https://usmechanicedu.com/electric-vehicles-how-the-car-industry-suckered-liberals-again/ for another angle.