I find myself frequently copying & pasting the same basic climatology links, so I'm preparing a parking lot here where I can have a bunch of them available. Nothing much to see here right now, sorry!
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Electric cars have a FAR lower lifetime CO2 footprint and a FAR lower lifetime energy footprint. Since energy correlates closely to dollars, it means electric cars have a far lower total cost of ownership.
These graphs are for Vancouver CA in 2018, so energy costs are similar to the US; however energy is represented in megajoules - there are 3.6 MJ in a KWH, and 1 MJ = .37 horsepower hours. It assumes 150,000Km of travel over the life of the car, about 93,000 miles.
Lifecycle CO2 costs (these include extracting & transporting oil)
The world has 8,000 gigawatts of installed electricity generation capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. In theory, if the capacity ran 24-7 it could generate 69 million gigawatt hours of electricity annually.
The world consumed about 27 million gigawatt hours of electricity in 2019. That electricity warmed homes and ran businesses. What’s more, the world consumed the equivalent of roughly 28 million gigawatt hours of electrical energy to power its cars and trucks. That energy, of course, was stored in liquid fuel. Power plants didn’t have to generate it. Gasoline and diesel make most of the world’s vehicles go.
So 27 plus 28 is 56. The world needs 56 million gigawatt hours to keep the lights on as well as drive cars and trucks. There is 69 million gigawatt hours of capacity.No problem. But the generating capacity of wind and solar, of course, can’t be “on” 100% of the time. And even coal, nuclear, and hydro power plants have to take maintenance downtime. Still, there looks to be some spare generating capacity and the world’s 2 billion or so vehicles won’t convert to battery power all at once.
BTW, lithium batteries are great because they recycle so well.
Study: Recycled Lithium Batteries as Good as Newly Mined > Cathodes made with novel direct-recycling beat commercial materials 15 Oct 2021
And, lithium salts dissolved in hot geothermal wells has minimal environmental impact.
The new 'gold rush' for green lithium Geothermal brine could become a promising and sustainable source of an essential element for the renewable energy transition 24th November 2020
@ElwoodBlues Report in Tampa Bay Times Sept 2, 2025
Are EVs really reducing overall emissions? What ‘cradle-to-grave’ analysis found
EV full ‘lifecycle’ far ahead of internal combustion engines
The researchers found that, overall, internal combustion engine pickup trucks were the highest emitters of greenhouse gasses, measuring at 486 grams of CO2 per mile.
If the same driver switched their vehicle to a hybrid — and kept other factors like utility and location the same — they could reduce their emissions by 23%, researchers said. If the driver switched to a fully electric pickup truck, that number would increase to 75%.
A major argument against electric pickups are the loss of hauling power, but researchers found that a battery electric pickup truck hauling 2,500 pounds emitted 30% less emissions than an internal combustion engine pickup hauling nothing.
Part of the research included creating a free online “Vehicle Lifecycle Emissions Calculator” that can compare the emissions of two vehicles if driven in the same area.
For example, in Broward County, Florida, a compact sedan internal combustion engine will emit 60 metric tons of CO2 over its “lifecyle,” which includes production and disposal.
A compact sedan battery electric vehicle will produce 20 metric tons of CO2 over its lifecyle in the same county.
