Electric car batteries not so eco friendly

[Manky Monkey]

An interesting read:

There are huge hopes tied to electric cars as the solution to the automotive climate problem, but the electric car batteries are eco-villains in their production. Several tons of carbon dioxide has been produced, even before the batteries leave the factory.
The IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute was commissioned by the Swedish Transport Administration and the Swedish Energy Agency investigated the climate impact of lithium batteries from a life cycle perspective. There are batteries designed for electric vehicles included in the study. The two authors Lisbeth Dahllöf and Mia Romare have done a meta-study that reviews and compiles existing studies.
The report shows that the battery manufacturing leads to high emissions. For every kilowatt hour of storage capacity in the battery, their production generated emissions of 150 to 200 kilos of carbon dioxide in the factory. The researchers did not study individual brands of battery, or how these were produced or the electricity mix they use, but, as an example: two common electric cars on the market, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S, use batteries of about 30 kWh and 100 kWh respectively
Even when first buying the cars, their production has already created approximately 5.3 tons and 17.5 tons each. The numbers can be difficult to relate to. As a comparison, a round trip for one person from Stockholm to New York by air causes the release of more than 600 kilograms of carbon dioxide, according to the UN organisation ICAO's calculations.
Another conclusion of the study is that about half the emissions arise from the production of raw materials and half the production of the battery in the factory. The mining accounts for only a small proportion of between 10-20 percent.
The calculation is based on the assumption that the electricity mix used in the battery factory consists of more than half of the fossil fuels.
The study also concluded that emissions grow almost linearly with the size of the battery. It means that a battery of the Tesla size contributes more than three times as much emissions as the Nissan Leaf size.

[peewee]

There will need to be alot of improvements if the government insist that we all change to electric cars in the future.

[stinkey]

Hydrogen it is then ?

[Olds]

I simply cannot fathom the reasoning behind the rush to electric. The impact figures for production do not take into account end of life recycling which is likely to cause more pollution and take as much energy as the initial production. That's if they can persuade anyone to set up recycling centres for these batteries. It has already been established that each type of battery (and there are many) will need it's own process to effectively recycle and as far as I'm aware, no manufacturer has so far been willing to address the issue.

[Manky Monkey]

Maybe it's simply that there's a lot less oil left than they're telling us?
Most scrapped vehicle under Government/manufacturer scrappage schemes -VW Golf.

[Archie]

Doubt it on the oil. Just filled the jeep up here in America for $18 - it’s working out to roughly 40p a litre!

Had a faux par on the forecourt and overfilled the thing as we thought the pump was playing up!

[JayJay]

It's not just the batteries. Because the batteries are heavy, manufacturers have to develop electric cars out of lightweight materials like aluminium and carbon-fibre reinforced plastics. These require a lot of energy to produce and process.

Rare earth elements are used in the batteries and these have to be mined from somewhere. Whose land is going to be used to meet the growing need if we go all out on electric transport. Mining and processing metals such as lithium and nickel can release harmful elements. Again, whose the lucky populace living nearby who get to have their air or water table contaminated.

Like Andy's article says, the cars have to be plugged in somewhere to charge. Many relying on fossil fuels to supply that electricity while the rest of us have to keep turning off the lights!    Yes, electric transport's lack of emissions should help pollution but not necessarily help our carbon dioxide output.

There is a lot of fudging when it comes to the facts of how environmentally friendly electric cars are, but hey, what's new. 

[stinkey]

Judging by the news from Russia /North Korea we won't have to worry about it ?

[Manky Monkey]

You in the land of the free & obese Archie?

[Baychimp]

Again this is all policital spin. Very few Politicians look at the long game, most of this is saying the right things at the right time to garner votes. Short term objectives to maintain power. In the future a lot of the people making policy now will be unseated,dead or to senile to care, and the next generation of Politico can change the time scale or even abandon the policys altogether. Whats that saying "This week news is next weeks Chip wrapping"(but only if you are old enough to remember them being in Newspaper  ). So you can never really be sure where this is heading.

[BikerGran]

I think Baychimp has a good point there!

[Archie]

You in the land of the free & obese Archie?

Yeppo started in Orlando, then drove up to Gainesville for a festival and have now driven down to Miami and staying on south beach for a few days

[Manky Monkey]

Very nice
I was in New York in June, but avoided renting a car & driving anywhere else cos the thought of tackling a foreign road system, in a lefthand drive car, completely on my own, was a bit daunting. How have you got on with it?

[Archie]

Really easy mate. We had a big jeep which was auto so made it a lot easier. No roundabouts to contend with so town drivings easy. The turn right on a red light is a bit odd but does make sense. No rules about undertaking in the highway either which again is a bit odd, but makes sense in some situations.

[poprodder]

Really easy mate. We had a big jeep which was auto so made it a lot easier. No roundabouts to contend with so town drivings easy. The turn right on a red light is a bit odd but does make sense. No rules about undertaking in the highway either which again is a bit odd, but makes sense in some situations.

our sat nav system in delivery vans are american. apparently we don't have roundabouts!!!! "take the first left at the circle!!!!"  yes really.