Is an EV really better for the environment? 

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have been a popular discussion topic in the movement towards a more sustainable future. Although many think that EVs are one of the most impactful solutions to reducing our carbon footprint, there are a few important considerations when purchasing one. 

At CarbonClick, we’re here to help you understand how to reduce your carbon footprint. This is our take on EVs and how sustainable they actually are. 

First off, bear in mind that all vehicles produce microplastics from their tyres and emissions in their production. There is usually some carbon footprint associated with the energy production. Therefore, if you can switch to biking, electric public transport, and taking fewer trips – you may be doing far more for the planet than buying another car at all. We’ll assume you’re going to need to drive for the purposes of this exercise and that you’re going to need to replace your current Internal Combustion Engine (“ICE”) powered vehicle either with another similar, or an EV. 

What’s the carbon footprint of producing an EV?

The challenge with EVs is that there is a larger carbon footprint to produce the cars up front. It’s generally about 3 Tonnes more. In Chinese manufactured vehicles it’s around 13T vs 10.5T for an equivalent fossil fuel vehicle. In other countries it’s about 10T for EVs vs about 7T for the equivalent ICE vehicle. 

Therefore, you need to be sure you’ll reap the environmental (and financial) savings by switching to an EV.  If you were to purchase your EV from a Chinese company and compare the entire lifecycle of an EV against a non EV, the EV’s footprint is 18% lower. Comparatively, manufacturing  an EV in a much greener energy country such as Sweden, the CO2 emissions are about 2-3 tonnes less.

Can I charge my EV using clean energy?

Depending on when and where you’re charging, you could have a very low or zero emissions footprint for charging your EV, or you could have a significant footprint. Considerations mainly include the country and state (the North Island of New Zealand has less renewable energy than South Island for example), and the time (e.g. overnight where the majority of energy is from renewables vs peak charging where fossil fuel are more likely to be the power source). In NZ, we generate between 75% to over 85% renewable energy, so EVs generally make sense here. But, the distance from the station and the network affects how many KWh of power need to be generated at the source just to reach your EV (Transmission loss can be as high as 15 % for some of our longest stretches of power transmission from the generator). 

Looking at an EV manufactured in Sweden, we calculate that for an EV versus a non EV a reduction in emissions is 0.175kg per KM.  This means at just 23,600km, the EV has become more environmentally friendly than the equivalent new petrol vehicle by this mileage (assuming 80% renewable energy).  Perhaps even lower mileage if you are charging off peak (at night), and are close to the generation source. Correspondingly more if you live a long way from the generation source (perhaps up to 15% more), and more if you charge during peak times (when gas generation is powering this). I doubt it would reach double the distance to reach environmental benefits over ICE (a 47,000km breakeven point), but certainly somewhere between those points. If you estimate travelling less than 47,000 km’s in this car in the next 10 years or so, this is where you need to consider some of these factors. 

In countries like Australia, the energy carbon footprint is 6.5x higher per KWh than NZ. Lets look at those numbers: You are saving about 0.04g/km.

The mileage at which an EV becomes more CO2 friendly than an ICE vehicle, is 103,500km. That becomes quite an additional burden on the environment if you are buying an EV but only intend on travelling low mileage. In fact, with battery degradation over time, if you aren’t going to do that within 15 years (7,000km per year), then you’re probably no better off from a new ICE car from a carbon perspective. However, your energy source is cleaner, your service costs are lower, and the battery has a second life at 15 years, to help power households on solar energy. Owning an EV in Poland, on coal generation, is the worst example I could find: at 7.5x (750g/kwh), 165,000km is about the environmental breakeven point where an EV becomes cleaner than an ICE vehicle (ignoring a few of the other benefits mentioned). 

In every situation though, reducing travel, car pooling and car sharing becomes the easiest way to make a huge dent in your emissions. Swapping to a Bike where possible is also amazing for your health. What that means is: if the numbers are very 50:50,even factoring in overnight charging, some of these other factors may influence whether an EV is going to be the most suitable vehicle for you or someone in your business.

Does an EV fit with my needs?

Finally, there is the “fit for purpose” consideration – if you’re doing high mileage daily, you want to make sure you’ll have either an EV with battery cooling which can accept multiple daily rapid charges, or one with plenty of capacity if it doesn’t have cooling. Remember the bigger the battery, the bigger the carbon footprint, and the higher the number of km required to make it a sound environmental decision. Similarly, for short city hops, a short range EV will have a lower manufacturing carbon footprint and cater to your needs.  My 4 year old Leaf drives a 100km round trip, three days a week. It’s done 100,000 km and has plenty of safety features even my expensive predecessor Audi didn’t have (like radar cruise & active lane keeping). The difference in higher depreciation cost (due to higher purchase cost, not higher % depreciation), has more than been offset by no need for servicing (just tyres and wiper blades to consider, no annual service or the downtime and hassle arranging this), and of course the phenomenal fuel and emission saving. The overnight recharge becomes routine like plugging your phones in at night does, so the hassle factor isn’t there. 

However, if you’re not due to change your car, and you’re only doing it to try and be more environmentally conscious, this presents another challenge. If you can extend the life of your vehicle (for example, let’s calculate from say 15 years to 20 years), by holding off purchasing a new car at all, you’re reducing your footprint by another 2-3 tonnes, which is another 11-17,000km that your EV will have to do before it makes it more environmentally beneficial. 

So, while yes, an EV usually makes great sense – especially if you do need a new vehicle – I urge you to run the numbers and purchase wisely.

Does purchasing a new EV work as well for you as it has for me? 

Dave Rouse, CarbonClick CEO