Explainer: EV sales hit an all-time high in March, showing growth of 69.6 per cent a year.
So you’d expect that EV owners, old and new, might be feeling chuffed at leaving the fuel crisis behind and choosing something better for the planet.
But now there’s rising claims that the embodied carbon of EVs is higher than that of ICE (internal combustion engine) cars. And the naysayers are claiming that this makes a net negative for the environment.
But several sources dispute this.
Embodied carbon of EVs is high
According to the Electric Vehicle Council, batteries in EVs are energy intensive to produce, but as processes continue to improve, additional emissions could be more than offset over the life of the vehicle.
The federal government’s energy website say that critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel and graphite need to be extracted, processed and converted before being turned into batteries. Making the embodied emissions of battery electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles higher than those of the equivalent ICE vehicle.
However, the “total emissions over the life of a new EV are less than the lifetime emissions for equivalent petrol or diesel vehicles”, it says.
Research from the International Council on Clean Transportation based in Washington DC agrees.
It says battery EVs are estimated to have about 40 per cent higher production emissions than ICE vehicles due to the production of the battery. However. The it says the additional emissions of the EV battery are “more than offset after about 17,000 km of use in the first one or two years.”
Why EVs are important for our grid
The council agrees with the government. EVs have no exhaust emissions, and even when charged with the current Australian grid, they would produce fewer lifecycle emissions. And emissions will only improve as more renewables are introduced to the grid, it says.
The organisation has a life cycle emissions calculator tool which shows that, across Australia, a light electric vehicle produce 84 grams of CO2 emissions a kilometre, compared to a light petrol vehicle, which would produce 193 grams of CO2 a km over its lifespan.
The number for the EV will drop further to 40 g if the user has access to rooftop solar or 100 per cent green energy.
This number also changes for each state or territory, based on its access to renewable energy. For example, light EVs would produce 102 g of CO2 a km in Western Australia, compared to Tasmania at just 36 g.
Notably, emissions increase with different weight class of cars. For example, a medium electric vehicle nationally would produce 124 g of CO2 a km, while a medium petrol vehicle would produce 263 g of CO2 a km.
The organisation added that it was important to recognise that EV batteries can also be used after their useful life in a vehicle, which is currently expected to be around 15 years. Older EV batteries can be used to power homes, buildings, or even the grid for another 10 years, meaning they would have a lifespan of 25 years in total.
After its life cycle, a battery can also be recycled to create brand new batteries, making EVs more circular than an ICE equivalent.
Overseas, Drive Electric UK says various studies found that a single kilowatt-hour of lithium-ion battery emits 56 to 494 kg of CO2, depending on manufacturing processes and production efficiency. A 60kWh battery pack would have an embedded carbon footprint of 3.36 to 29.64 tonnes of CO2.
The car lease company, which has leased EVs in the UK since 2008, says some of the latest battery packs are starting to remove rare earth materials from the production process, which reduces embodied carbon.
It adds that road users can also reduce embodied carbon by opting for a used EV, because the embodied carbon from manufacturing would have already been paid off by the previous owner. Extending the life of an existing EV would maximise the energy and resources invested in its production and would come at a lower cost.
