And what was the carbon footprint increase in the areas where the batteries were manufactured?
Page 13 of this report from pro-climate MIT science advocacy group The Union of Concerned Scientists is of interest: https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/Cl...
It claims the manufacturing CO2 footprint for an EV would almost be identical to the footprint for a similar ICE vehicle except for the battery which does indeed increase the EV’s footprint by 15%.
However they also claim that the total CO2 footprint for a 135,000 mile lifespan is still just under 50% less for an EV. This is of course due to the operational CO2 cost being much less for an EV when compared with an internal combustion engine.
I don’t know how many ICE vehicles are scrapped before their time due to an EV purchase but the CO2 overhead of switching to a brand new vehicle will be recouped within a few tens of thousands of miles.
> We use U.S. average electricity grid emissions to estimate manufacturing emissions, while the average electricity grid emissions intensity during vehicle operation are based on a sales-weighted average of where EVs are being sold today.
If the grid is supplied by a growing proportion of renewables + lower CO2 sources over time, the lifetime CO2 footprint of EVs should decline further.
The US grid is 4x dirtier than that but 60g/km still doesn’t come close to 180g-200g/km of an ICE doing 8l-9l/100km (25-30 mpg.)
This was discussed previously and the consensus was that break-even point with ICE is around 20k miles which is not a lot
Given that they have 90kWh battery packs, I don't think many of the Jaguar I-PACEs in my area have even hit the "break-even" CO2 point when their owners are now trying to unload them. For some of these cars it's taken 5 years to get to just 25k miles.
https://www.kbb.com/cars-for-sale/all/jaguar/i-pace/seattle-...
My e-bike with a .36kWh battery pack has done far, far more for the environment than any EV ever will.
That’s a silly example and I dont see how it invalidates anything in my comment. Those are leisure vehicles, do you really believe someone will pick an ebike or a bus to go on a Sunday ride along the coast?