COP26
THE EV TICKING TIMEBOMB By Roxy Costello-Ross The appeal of electric vehicles (EVs) has increased dramatically as people become more educated on the negative environmental effects caused by fossil fuelled cars, but are they really any better? As we take a closer look, it becomes clear that EVs also have a substantial carbon footprint. Can the effects of mining lithium, cobalt and other metals for rechargeable batteries be justified for the benefits of electric cars? Making these vehicles uses an incredible amount of energy, scientific studies have shown that manufacturing electric cars generates more carbon emissions than building traditional ones; factories end up using vast amounts of energy and can
46
often produce large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions in the process. The Union of Concerned Scientists has calculated that manufacturing a mid-sized EV with an 84-mile range results in around 15% more emissions than an equivalent gasoline vehicle and that for larger, longer-range EVs travelling more than 250 miles per charge, manufacturing
emissions can be as much as 68% higher. Electric cars can only be as green as the energy that you charge them with. This means that, while we still use non-renewable sources for electricity in the UK, electric cars will have already contributed to carbon emissions before they are ever driven. In 2025, however, all of the UK’s coal power plants will have been closed – a significant step in the right direction for more sustainable fuel. This being said, the Government is supposedly keen to replace these coal-powered plants with fracking or nuclear plants, neither of which are green alternatives. While electricity itself is a clean fuel, the generation of electricity in plants run with fossil fuels means that there will always be an environmental impact of buying and using electric cars. If we can make our energy
