If you are to purchase a car, will you choose an electric car?
Electric car industry is in an unprecedented irresistible trend. Many traditional car manufacturers have shifted their concentrations towards the research and development of electric vehicles. Mercedes-Benz has just announced that “Mercedes will offer electric versions of every single model it makes by 2022.” (New York Post) Also, as the “Tesla Model 3”, an electric car cost around 30,000 USD, was unveiled in early 2016, electric cars are much more affordable than ever.
If you are planning to own an electric car, you are probably feeling pretty good about it. You will not only enjoy a car with stunning design and most advanced technology, but also enjoy a fame of being an “environmental enthusiast”. But how green are these electric vehicles?
Electric cars may strike you as “eco-friendly”, “zero emissions”, but these are not necessarily true. Indeed, using electric cars is a great way to eliminate petroleum in from transportation. Traditional fuel cars use gasoline refined from petroleum, an energy reserve that is dwindling right now. More importantly, burning petroleum to power cars emits greenhouse gases, which is a main cause of global warming. Replacing gasoline cars with electric cars seem like a perfect way to directly cut off vehicle emission. However, the environmental impact of electric cars still exists and should not be ignored.
Since electric car is powered by electricity, it still might produce carbon emission in other ways. Electricity generation in most countries today still need to burn coal. In China, throughout 2016, coal-burning accounted for over 70% in total electricity generated (China Energy Portal). Hence, if we replace a gas car with electric car in China, we only shift our pollution from the road to the power plants, since the electricity still largely come from coal burning. In U.S, although only 30% of electricity is from coal combustion (Wikipedia 2016), in the Midwest and South, according to a research by Scientific American, a hybrid car produces less CO2 than and electric car.
Some may argue that the nowadays the coal-power plants have mostly been renovated, and countries like China I mentioned before are rapidly entering the age of clean energy. Yes, if we are using electric vehicles in regions that have already completed their transition from traditional energy to renewables like solar or wind energy, electric vehicles can be very clean. But other forms of environmental footprint, which means “the effect that a person, company, activity, etc. has on the environment”, can still be made by electric cars.
Beyond emission by electricity generation, electric vehicles consume more rare metals than gas cars. The main cause is the battery. An electric car need a large lithium battery to power it, and the lithium is a kind of very precious rare metal. Except for its rareness, the mining of these metal also leaves great harm to our earth. As a Sustainability Studies student, in a seminar concerning metal mining, I learnt that “Mineral exploitation can denude the land, leaving huge scars in the earth”. Also, the smelting and refining of metals like lithium may also produce air pollution. Plus, the deposition of these batteries containing toxic substances when these electric vehicles are abandoned is also a big issue. We are already facing a big problem dealing with batteries of our mobile phones and laptops. In Guiyu China, the largest e-trash disposal in the world, due to the lack of professional technique to dispose those hazardous e-trash including lithium batteries, people there are suffering from numerous diseases, air pollution, water pollution. Their homeland is ruined by those technology trash. As the number of electric cars are increasing exponentially, these problems should all be considered.
I am not saying that electric cars are useless and only environmental damage could be brought by electric vehicles. Nevertheless, decision makers all over the world seem like put the electric vehicles in the place of the final solution of green transportation. The Dutch government confirms “plan to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2030” to promote battery-powered vehicles. China, as the most active country to sell electric vehicles, spares no effort to subsidize electric vehicles. In my hometown Shanghai, a car license plate can cost you at least 14,000 USD (lowest bid price in November 2017). However, if you purchase an electric car, congratulations, you will be given a free license plate.
So, are electric vehicles really our future? There are many more products like hydrogen vehicles can overtake EVs, but their technologies are not matured enough for the market. At this time, promoting electric cars is definitely the best way to push the transportation industry, even the society to a greener direction. But we need to clearly realize the potential impacts of our products. Electric vehicles are not perfect solutions for global environmental issues.