Myth, Spin or Fact: Electric Cars are a Climate Change Saviour

With their clean and green insinuations, electric vehicles (EVs) are considered to be vastly better for the environment than the traditional internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV). Since EVs took to the roads in the 2000s, they have been on the rise and often are accompanied by two very polar opposite debates. Some hail EVs as one of the biggest solutions to climate change, cutting down on fossil fuel usage. The other side of the coin, usually labelled as the ‘sceptics’, questions just how environmentally friendly EVs are.

ICEVs ignite and combust fuel within an internal combustion engine and EVs are powered by the electricity generated by a battery. As of 2022, EVs occupy a 2.4% market share in Australia and the trends suggest this will continue to grow. EV (and automotive industry) giant Tesla is leading the way, with more and more brands bringing out their own spin on the electric vehicle. 

For Australia’s Electric Vehicle Council - the national body representing electrical vehicles in Australia - hitting a 2% market share was a hefty goal achieved, with 1% being the goal posts for a while. Australia already lags behind the rest of the world in terms of EV popularity, with Europe’s market share sitting at 11.2%, and the US, who is considered to be lagging behind also, sitting at 3%. 

Part of this growth has been attributed to support from government bodies in Australia, doing away with what have been labelled as ‘mixed messages’ by some. Talks of introducing tax reforms, with this being the recommended course of action by Australian tax experts, is banked as being a critical step to increasing Australia’s EV count. With the federal government announcing their intention to make EVs exempt from fringe benefits tax and import tariffs it has left many asking if this reform could make EVs as cheap as ICEVs. To be clear, these reforms and the push for them is aimed at increasing Australian EV uptake through encouraging fleet managers to convert to purchasing more electric commercial vehicles over ICEVs. With the cost of ownership being lower on EVs, the gap needs to be widened further through a tax reform. 

Undeniably the push to shift to EVs is huge, coming from experts from an array of fields and now as a concrete consideration from the federal government. 

Let’s now take a critical look at EVs themselves and their supposed green prowess. 

EVs today tend to produce less planet-warming emissions than your traditional ICEVs, broadly speaking. The kicker with EVs is that they need to be plugged in and charged. Batteries imply sustainability: recharging rather than refuelling your car is thought to have less environmental impact. However the power required to charge an EV comes the same way all power does: from electric grids, which are more often than not fueled by coal. The majority of Australia’s power grids are coal (75%), followed by gas (16%), hydro (5%) and wind (approximately 2%). 

Electric grids have a way to go still before they are considered environmentally clean. Once these grids are at a point where they are run off of completely renewable sources, the emission production associated with EVs will drop significantly. Despite this however, the emission output of EVs, taking into account the fossil fuels required to charge them, are still more environmentally friendly than your traditional combustion engine.

The batteries and battery production of EVs is often an area cited as not being as green as initially thought. These batteries are made from lithium, cobalt and other rare earth elements, called lithium-ion batteries. Often the mining of these materials is not entirely environmentally friendly and comes with a range of human rights issues also. Yet multiple studies have shown that even when taking into account the manufacturing batteries for EVs, the overall emissions are still smaller than those of ICEVs. 

An EVs battery, however, might be its most contentious part. Not only does their composition come under fire, but their lifespan and their wastage factor post-use do too. As all batteries do, EV batteries lose their capacity to hold charge. Think of your phone or your laptop; over time, they run out of charge faster than what they did when you first bought them. EVs use the same batteries as phones and laptops, meaning that an electric vehicle will eventually have to be shelved due to their batteries losing charge capacity.

Electric car chassis with lithium-ion battery

CAs we know, EV batteries are made of various valuable materials. Therefore, the recycling factor of these batteries is more positive and appealing than maybe once thought. A 2020 CSIRO report noted that each tonne of lithium-ion battery waste could be worth between US$4,400 and US$17,200 in materials. However, extracting these valuable materials in a pure form is difficult. Lithium-ion batteries are more challenging to recycle than lead acid batteries (which have been used to power electrical systems in ICEV cars for centuries and are found in EVs too). 

Today, EV batteries are crushed into ‘black mass’. The processes used to separate the materials are often energy-intensive. Recycling is touted as one of the easiest ways to be green; reusing lithium-ion batteries still has a way to go before it can be termed ‘green’ it seems. The positive is that there are already a number of ways emerging to make the most of this energy-intensive process. 

So are electric vehicles really the solution to a sustainable future? Whilst they are still not the best, they are better than combustion engine vehicles. Despite the production and charging energy costs, their benefits still outweigh their drawbacks especially when compared to ICEVs. For now, EVs are the better and more environmentally sustainable option. As the world grows to become more sustainable and technology advances, the appeal of EVs will continue to grow and their negative impacts will become smaller and smaller. 

Charging stations are cropping up and becoming more accessible. All signs point to EVs becoming the most supported and most purchased type of vehicle. Whilst their cost makes them inaccessible to a wider audience, technological advancements will only make them cost-friendly. 

Collectively, I see that we should be setting our sights on other parts of society that have bigger detriments to the environment. Corporate fossil fuel usage and solving our national recycling crisis are all areas which would have greater impacts on rerouting our climate’s future. With all the evidence suggesting that electric vehicles are one of the most advanced solutions to climate change that we currently have, they will have to make do. 

Team Contributor: Olivia Greco
Get in touch: olivia.greco@arrowvane.com | Linkedin
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