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Are Electric Cars Worse For The Environment? Myth Busted

Engineering Explained · 2.2M views · 2018-10-31 · 13:47

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Overview

Engineering Explained works through whether electric cars are really worse for the environment than gasoline cars. It covers battery production emissions, the electricity mix used to charge, and how long an EV takes to break even on lifetime emissions.

On Hacker News

HN commenters link it repeatedly as a clear, number-based rebuttal to the claim that EVs are worse for the climate than gas cars.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2018–2023

Topics

Cars, EVs & motorcyclesClimate policy, solutions & debateRenewables, batteries & storage
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ev vs icelifecycle emissionsbattery manufacturinggrid mixclimate

What people said

theluketaylor · 2022-08 · Recommendation

Yes, it takes more energy to build a BEV than an ICE car. It's not massively different and the lifetime emissions of a BEV are still lower than an ICE car even on a pretty dirty grid. good breakdown: [VIDEO]

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Sohcahtoa82 · 2021-05 · Recommendation

Nobody thinks that EVs have a zero carbon footprint. But over the lifetime of the car, they have a lower footprint than ICE. Yes, they have a higher footprint than ICE to manufacture, but even if you get your power from coal, over the long term their carbon footprint is lower. And if your power comes from a renewable source, then the break-even point is less than two years. Engineering Explained did a good video doing the math behind the carbon footprints of ICE versus EV over the life of the car: [VIDEO]

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bennyelv · 2019-08 · Recommendation

Citation needed. The literature I've seen suggests that an electric vehicle easily makes back any deficit quite early in its life. An easily digestable version of this calculation is here: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Engineering Explained, played through YouTube.

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