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Are Electric Vehicles Any More Environmentally Friendly Than I C E Ones?

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ToraToraTora | 10:30 Sun 30th Jul 2023 | Motoring
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Electricity is still generated by fossil fuels and then there is the huge amount of pollution in the manufacturing process etc.Then of course there is the huge problem with them spontaneously combusting. I sometimes wonder if this obsession with EVs is like the Emperor's new clothes. Discuss.
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All major manufacturers are heading towards producing all electric vehicles:

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/22869-electric-vehicles/DI_Electric-Vehicles.pdf

The production of batteries is mainly where EV’s loose out to ICE cars in terms of production generated pollution but Manufacturers are heading towards making their plants more carbon neutral like Volvo:
https://electrek.co/2021/05/26/volvo-achieves-companys-first-climate-neutral-car-plant/

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ZM: "The production of batteries is mainly where EV’s loose out to ICE cars in terms of production generated pollution but Manufacturers are heading towards making their plants more carbon neutral like Volvo: " - well that is the plant and even then It seems to have some very dubious "accounting". What about the whole mining process for lithium and Cobalt etc? Notoriously high in pollution. Thousands of tons of rock must be sifted fora few kilos of material etc.
I was including the mining hence me referring specifically to batteries.
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That factory is carbon neutral including the mining? Impossible.
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... a bit like Drax claiming to be carbon neutral, ridiculous.
You’d have to research some figures to support that statement, Tora, otherwise it’s just your opinion and I’d rather not debate opinions, hence my links to two sources of information.

Are you expecting the production of EVs to eventually be zero? If not, what sort of figure are you looking at where they become acceptable?

By the way, ICE cars have batteries as well.
>>> "Electricity is still generated by fossil fuels"

The percentage of electricity produced from fossil fuels continues to fall. As I type this, only 18.5% of current electricity production in Great Britain is from fossil fuels:
https://grid.iamkate.com/
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sounds like some very dodgy accounting if you ask me zacs.
As I said….that appears, without support of facts and figures to be your opinion. You’ve started a thread about a fairly complex subject which really needs some support. Can you find any figures to back up your assertion that the Volvo plant isn’t carbon neutral?
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ZM: "Are you expecting the production of EVs to eventually be zero? If not, what sort of figure are you looking at where they become acceptable?" - I'm just exploring the mantra that EVs are some sort of holy grail solution, I contend that they are not as "clean" as portrayed.

"By the way, ICE cars have batteries as well. " - yes but they are tiny on comparison and not the propulsion method.
CHRIS, that figure is for the past day and it's 40% for the past year.
Who’s said that EVs are the holy grail? At present they aren’t the cleaner alternative they will become (please note I wrote ‘cleaner’ and not ‘clean’ as they never will be 100% clean) and there’s a balance between the production of EVs themselves and their batteries versus the production of ICE vehicles and their on-going emissions.
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12:06, it's 40% for the year.
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zm: "Who’s said that EVs are the holy grail? " - no one actually said it but the whole bandwagon implies it.
I think they imply that EVs are the future. I haven’t seen anyone implying their a panacea for human transport.
They are something to be seen to be doing. No obvious path has emerged yet, but the battery car route looks pretty grim. IMO an error to be pushing, especially compulsorily. Better to continue making what we have less polluting until science/tech finds a clear winning alternative.

It's not just manufacturing either. Mining rare elements from dodgy nations ensure you keep all your eggs in a single basket too.
// Electricity is still generated by fossil fuels //

At 3pm Sunday, more than half our electricity is being generated by renewables.
https://www.energydashboard.co.uk/live

// huge problem with them spontaneously combusting //

There are 20,000 car fires a year. Over the last 5 years 507 have been from electric vehicles, about 100 a year out of 20,000.
"more than half our electricity is being generated by renewables."

And we still ain't self sufficient yet wish to increase demand apparently.
Self sufficient in our energy needs that is, yet shoving more demand on the barely adequate electricity supply.

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