Reuters, DETROIT, June 29 – You saunter calmly out of the Tesla (TSLA.O) showroom in your sleek new electric Model 3, satisfied that you’re looking good while also helping the environment. Continue on – you’ll need to travel another 13,500 miles (21,725 km) to cause less environmental damage than a gas-guzzling saloon. That’s according to a Reuters examination of data from a model that predicts vehicle lifetime emissions, a contentious topic that’s gaining traction as governments around the world push for greener transportation to achieve climate targets. The Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago built the model, which contains thousands of variables ranging from the type of metals in an electric vehicle (EV) battery to the amount of aluminum or plastic in a car. The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies (GREET) model from Argonne is now being used in conjunction with other tools to help shape policy at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board, the two main regulators of vehicle emissions in the country. Jarod According to Cory Kelly, chief energy systems analyst at Argonne, the extraction and processing of materials in EV batteries, as well as the fabrication of power cells, produces more carbon than combustion engine cars. However, depending on the assumptions, estimates of how large the carbon gap is when a car is first sold and when the “break-even” point for EVs occurs during their lifetime can vary substantially. The payback period is then determined by factors such as the size of the EV’s battery, the gasoline car’s fuel economy, and how the power required to charge an EV is generated, according to Kelly. NORWAY HAS WON. To come up with some answers, Reuters entered a set of variables into the Argonne model, which has over 43,000 users as of 2021. With a 54 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery and a cathode constructed of nickel, cobalt, and aluminum, among other variables, the Tesla 3 scenario above was designed for driving in the United States, where coal-fired plants provide 23 percent of electricity. find out more It was pitted against a gasoline-powered Toyota Corolla that weighed 2,955 pounds and got 33 miles per gallon. Both vehicles were expected to cover 173,151 miles in their lifetimes. However, if the identical Tesla was driven in Norway, where renewable hydropower generates almost all of the country’s electricity, the break-even threshold would be reached after only 8,400 miles. According to a Reuters study of data collected by Argonne’s model, you’d have to travel 78,700 miles to attain carbon parity with the Corolla if the electricity to charge the EV came solely from coal, which supplies the majority of power in nations like China and Poland. According to a Reuters investigation, the extraction and production of a mid-sized EV saloon emits 47 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) each mile, or more than 8.1 million grams before it reaches the first client. In comparison, a comparable gasoline car produces 32 grams each mile, or almost 5.5 million grams. EVs, according to Michael Wang, senior scientist and director of Argonne’s Energy Systems division’s Systems Assessment Center, produce significantly less carbon throughout a 12-year lifespan. According to the Reuters study, even in the worst-case scenario where an EV is charged solely from a coal-fired grid, it would emit an additional 4.1 million grams of carbon per year, while a comparable gasoline car would emit over 4.6 million grams. ‘WELL-TO-WHEEL’ According to Reuters, the Environmental Protection Agency utilizes GREET to help analyze renewable fuel and vehicle greenhouse gas standards, while the California Air Resources Board employs the model to assess compliance with the state’s low-carbon fuel standard. The EPA also claimed it utilized Argonne’s GREET to create an online tool that allows consumers in the United States to estimate EV emissions depending on the fuels used to generate electricity in their location. https://bit.ly/3y1fBnr The findings of Reuters’ analysis are identical to those of IHS Markit’s life-cycle assessment of electric and combustion-engine vehicles in Europe. According to Vijay Subramanian, IHS Markit’s worldwide director of carbon dioxide (CO2) compliance, the typical break-even point in carbon emissions for EVs was roughly 15,000 to 20,000 kilometers, depending on the country. He claimed that taking this strategy demonstrated the long-term benefits of switching to electric automobiles. Some people are less enthusiastic about electric vehicles. According to Damien Ernst of the University of Liege, a typical electric vehicle would have to travel over 700,000 kilometers before emitting less CO2 than a comparable gasoline vehicle. Later, he corrected his numbers downward. He now believes the break-even point will be between 67,000 and 151,000 kilometers. Ernst told Reuters that he had no plans to revise those conclusions, which were based on different data and assumptions than Argonne’s model. Other organisations maintain that electric vehicles are not always cleaner or greener than gasoline-powered vehicles. “Multiple studies show that, on a life-cycle basis, different automotive powertrains result in similar greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the American Petroleum Institute, which represents over 600 oil firms. The University of Chicago operates Argonne National Laboratory, which is supported by the US Department of Energy. Paul Lienert contributed reporting from Detroit, and David Clarke edited the piece. The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles are our standards. Continue reading
