Answer

Electric Cars are not Better for the Environment

Abstract

Electrical cars are considered a green technology and a solution to the contribution of automobiles to climate change. With their power derived from electricity, proponents of the cars argue that they are eco-friendly. However, this paper argues that electric cars are not emission free as presented and have indirect contribution to environmental pollution. Therefore, renewable energy should be explored as an alternative source of power in addition to a proper recycling process for the lithium-ion batteries which are harmful to human health.

Electric Cars are not Better for the Environment

Climate change is a fundamental global concern that has changed the mode of operation in all sectors. Consequently, the world has introduced sustainability as an undertaking in all sectors to minimize the effects of climate change and the transport sector is no exception. Electrical vehicles are perceived as the solution to greenhouse gas emissions that are key contributors to climate change (Lattanzio & Clark, 2020. The cars which are powered by electricity instead of gas as in conventional automobiles are considered as zero emission machines and hence, environmentally sustainable solution to the carbon footprint in the transportation sector (Abas et al., 2019). However, the challenge still remains, are these vehicles really environmentally sustainable? From manufacturing concerns to battery power sources as well as overall autonomy, EVs have been under scrutiny from sceptics (Ellsmoor, 2019). This paper argues that electric vehicles are not environmentally friendly by examining their contribution to climate change in the process of their manufacture, operation, and disposal at the end of life.

Car manufacture starts at raw material extraction, sorting, transport and production into various parts that are assembled into the complete automobile (Ellsmoor, 2019). Electrical cars undergo the same production process undergone by conventional ones. However, electric car manufacture is established to produce more carbon emissions than the production of conventional cars due to the large batteries required to store energy. The “environmental effects profile of BEV technologies is attributable to the greater demand for electricity and other forms of energy required for battery production” (Lattanzio & Clark, 2020). Big batteries have larger range and hence high environmental costs. The costs are usually associated with pollutive mining processes of graphite, cobalt, nickel, or lithium rare earth elements existing beneath the earth’s surface.

             In addition, during operation, the source of power for electrical vehicles determines its environmental sustainability compliance. Electric cars use lithium-ion batteries which facilitate electrodynamic release of chemically stored/potential energy (Ellsmoor, 2019).  According to Schmid (2017) “the most important part, and conveniently the most forgotten part, of the electric vehicle discussion is where the energy is coming from to charge these vehicles and the emissions associated with the production of that energy.”  If the energy used in powering these vehicles is derived from renewable sources such as nuclear, wind turbines, hydro-electric, or solar panels, then the vehicles will achieve green transportation goal. However, in the event that fossil fuels are used as the source of fuel, which is the case in the US, then the cars are an indirect source of environmental pollution released by a power plant situated in a separate location (Abas et al., 2019).

Again, while driving using clean energy, electric car batteries are offset in approximately 6 to 16 months and there is no process in place to recycle their components (Ellsmoor, 2019). In the US, approximately 99% of the lead-acid batteries used in conventional cars are recycled. However, lithium-ion batteries have a special blend of chemicals and contain only a little amount of lithium. This complex nature makes them unattractive to the recycling market place. The hydrometallurgical recovery process was non-justifiable for the battery materials and hence only approximately 5% of the lithium is recovered while everything else ends up in landfills or incinerates (Lattanzio & Clark, 2020). Thus, in the long-run, presuming most of the population adopts electric cars as the automobiles of choice, the disposal of lithium-ion batteries will be detrimental to environmental protection and preservation.

On a positive note, however, during driving, electric vehicles produce zero-emission. The implication is that electric vehicles do not pollute the environment because they do not produce any direct emissions (Ellsmoor, 2019). However, according to Schmid (2017), the amount of emission electrical cars can be evaluated through the source of energy. Electric cars take up to 20 hours to be fully charged which means more fossil fuel gets pumped into the system to facilitate the charging process. This implies that individuals will be playing a part in curbing greenhouse gas emissions but their power source emits an equal or more amount (Lattanzio & Clark, 2020). Therefore, for the US where fossil fuels make up more than half of the power sources, electrical cars are a rich source of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere and hence not considered environmentally friendly.

Also, the batteries used in electric cars can be reused and accorded a second life. Lithium-ion batteries can be reused to store energy in homes. This prolongs the battery shelf life and hence its length of active use (Ellsmoor, 2019). As a result, fewer batteries are discarded into landfills. However, the solution is, therefore, a temporary thought because in the long run, and with the increased adoption of electric cars, they will be too many to be absorbed in households. Thus, the only viable solution to the disposal problem is to devise a proper recycling process where the contents of the batteries can be put into productive use.

In conclusion, electric cars are associated with some level of greenhouse gas emissions. Although during driving they are environmentally green, these automobiles produce emissions during their manufacture, energy production and disposal stages. Therefore, in as much as electrical vehicles are considered green, unless technology to produce, power, and dispose them adopts an environmentally sustainable mechanism, they remain an environmental hazard to a large extent, even sometimes more than the conventional cars. More sustainable methods such as adoption of public transport over individual vehicles, cycling, and other mobility means that produce less emissions should be explored as possible alternatives to address the negative climate change impacts and elude the 2 degrees Celsius increase in temperature.