iceynyo

iceynyo t1_jb9wvjz wrote

>Manufacturing batteries for one car creates about 16 tonnes of CO2.
>
>Running a petrol engine car for a year creates about 2-4 tonnes of CO2.
>
>To make an EV actually more ecological you'd need to run it for about 200000 miles

How did you manage that calculation? I found the average gas emissions to be 1t of CO2 per 2500mi. So 16t of CO2 should actually be 40,000mi.

And that's only because you're taking the worst case for a Model 3 battery when the best case is actually 4.5t. While the mean is apparently closer to 5t, even if we take the median of 10t it's still a lot less CO2 at 25000mi.

Don't forget about the CO2 cost to extract, process, and transport that fuel all the way to the pump too. Actually makes the gas numbers way worse.

Plus a gas car has a lot more components in the drivetrain so the rest of the vehicle production is a bit more CO2 intensive compared to an EV as well.

Also considering batteries can be (and are being) recycled, the need for mining new battery materials will start to slow down, and maybe eventually can stop entirely.

So even if you're being pretty generous to the gas car and somewhat unfair to the EV, the gas car will overtake the EV on CO2 after 5 years.

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