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Nope, not really. More of a sales tactic to attract tree huger (and their wallets) than anything.
The best analysis I have ever seen concluded, yes electric cars are friendlier to the environment, but at a massive dollar cost that could very easily be put to better use.
Some states will let you choose an electric generation company that uses environmentally friendly techniques instead of coal. You pay a higher price for your electricity than using coal generation plants, but that is the point. For far less money than the cost of your electric car you could buy a very efficient gasoline vehicle and subsidize the nascent solar or wind generation industry.
They are much more environmentally friendly. Often you can see them weeding the crops, purring contentedly while they playfully chase large farm machines, and always cover their mess w/ a little spin in the dirt afterwards. Very friendly.
The best analysis I have ever seen concluded, yes electric cars are friendlier to the environment, but at a massive dollar cost that could very easily be put to better use.
Some states will let you choose an electric generation company that uses environmentally friendly techniques instead of coal. You pay a higher price for your electricity than using coal generation plants, but that is the point. For far less money than the cost of your electric car you could buy a very efficient gasoline vehicle and subsidize the nascent solar or wind generation industry.
But there would be nothing to show off.
I could buy a '13 Volt off lease for under $14k and get 250+ mpg and there are no "efficient gas cars" that can match it at any price. Or, I could get a Leaf or Focus EV off lease for under $10k and never use gas again. Has nothing to do with having something to "show off." And that sort of attitude is frankly insulting.
I loved my Volt for daily driving. The silent torque of the electric motor made the car feel like a luxurious performance sedan (under 80 mph, at least) and starting each day with a "full tank" of electricity to commute and run errands with was nice. I'd go months without going to a gas station in the car, with the exception of the drive up to Maine and back which did use a few gallons of gas.
I could buy a '13 Volt off lease for under $14k and get 250+ mpg and there are no "efficient gas cars" that can match it at any price. Or, I could get a Leaf or Focus EV off lease for under $10k and never use gas again. Has nothing to do with having something to "show off." And that sort of attitude is frankly insulting.
I loved my Volt for daily driving. The silent torque of the electric motor made the car feel like a luxurious performance sedan (under 80 mph, at least) and starting each day with a "full tank" of electricity to commute and run errands with was nice. I'd go months without going to a gas station in the car, with the exception of the drive up to Maine and back which did use a few gallons of gas.
You have to look at more than just the fuel used. The steel and plastic used to construct the vehicle are the same. However, the materials used to construct the battery, and the mining methods used to get the materials, are far more harmful to the environment. I know several people who have owned hybrids, and their biggest weakness is the batteries, and the battery controller. In fact, it is so bad on high mileage cars that the dealership my fiend works for will no longer buy them at auction. They have been burned too many times, having to replace batteries.
Unfortunately, both nickel-hydride batteries and the newer lithium-ion batteries rely on the mining of nickel, copper and so-called rare earth metals. The production of lithium-ion batteries account for 2 to 5 percent of total lifetime hybrid emissions and nickel-hydride batteries are responsible for higher sulfur oxide emissions, roughly 22 pounds (10 kilograms) per hybrid compared with 2.2 pounds (about 1 kilogram) for a conventional vehicle [sources: Samaras and Burnham et al].
There are additional environmental concerns related to those rare earth metals, like those used in the magnets of hybrid batteries. In recent years, rare earth metals like lithium have been imported almost exclusively from China, which was able to lower its prices enough to monopolize the industry [source: Strickland]. One of the reasons China could sell lithium so cheaply was because it widely ignored environmental safeguards during the mining process. In the Bayan Obo region of China, for example, miners removed topsoil and extracted the gold-flecked metals using acids that entered the groundwater, destroying nearby agricultural land. Even the normally tight-lipped Chinese government admitted that rare earth mining has been abused in some places. A regulator at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China went so far as to tell The New York Times, "This has caused great harm to the ecology and environment" [source: Bradsher].
So to summarize, every action has a consequence, and even the mighty hybrid car causes it's own specific type of environmental damage. Carbon Dioxide will eventually be naturally sequestered through photosynthesis. Strip mining the countryside isn't as easily negated.
You have to look at more than just the fuel used. The steel and plastic used to construct the vehicle are the same. However, the materials used to construct the battery, and the mining methods used to get the materials, are far more harmful to the environment.
Unfortunately, both nickel-hydride batteries and the newer lithium-ion batteries rely on the mining of nickel, copper and so-called rare earth metals. The production of lithium-ion batteries account for 2 to 5 percent of total lifetime hybrid emissions and nickel-hydride batteries are responsible for higher sulfur oxide emissions, roughly 22 pounds (10 kilograms) per hybrid compared with 2.2 pounds (about 1 kilogram) for a conventional vehicle [sources: Samaras and Burnham et al].
There are additional environmental concerns related to those rare earth metals, like those used in the magnets of hybrid batteries. In recent years, rare earth metals like lithium have been imported almost exclusively from China,
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Since lithium is NOT a rare earth metal, your whole post is called into question.
Lithium is not usually mined, it's sourced from evaporative brine ponds, and are no more harmful to the environment than salt lakes. There's a HUGE deposit of it in Nevada and Wyoming and most of the lithium used by the new Tesla Gigafactory (where they will be making lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries for much of the western world) will come from there. Also, newer batteries coming on line are Aluminum-Air and have more density than Lithium-ion and Lithium-air.
An aerial view shows the brine pools and processing areas of the Soquimich (SQM) lithium mine on the Atacama salt flat, the world's second largest salt flat and the largest lithium deposit currently in production:
On top of that, the rare earth metal used in electric motors, neodymium, is being phased out in modern EV motors and being replaced with much more common materials.
Nickel metal hydride batteries are environmentally harmful, but are being phased out of most EVs and hybrids already. Most sources talking about it are from 2012 and earlier, and do not take into account newer manufacturing processes and newer cars.
"Nevada currently is home to the only brine lithium operation in the United States. Rockwood Lithium, which produces lithium carbonate from brines near Silver Peak, Nevada, has invested $75 million in an expansion of its U.S. lithium production. Pure Energy Minerals holds contiguous claims near the Silver Peak operation." Western Lithium’s King Valley project is often promoted thusly: “Nevada is uniquely positioned to support the world-wide increase in renewable energy production and demand for electric vehicles through lithium mining—the key ingredients to the high-performance batteries, which will power electric vehicles and be used in utility-scale energy storage projects.”
You have to look at more than just the fuel used. The steel and plastic used to construct the vehicle are the same. However, the materials used to construct the battery, and the mining methods used to get the materials, are far more harmful to the environment. I know several people who have owned hybrids, and their biggest weakness is the batteries, and the battery controller. In fact, it is so bad on high mileage cars that the dealership my fiend works for will no longer buy them at auction. They have been burned too many times, having to replace batteries.
Unfortunately, both nickel-hydride batteries and the newer lithium-ion batteries rely on the mining of nickel, copper and so-called rare earth metals. The production of lithium-ion batteries account for 2 to 5 percent of total lifetime hybrid emissions and nickel-hydride batteries are responsible for higher sulfur oxide emissions, roughly 22 pounds (10 kilograms) per hybrid compared with 2.2 pounds (about 1 kilogram) for a conventional vehicle [sources: Samaras and Burnham et al].
There are additional environmental concerns related to those rare earth metals, like those used in the magnets of hybrid batteries. In recent years, rare earth metals like lithium have been imported almost exclusively from China, which was able to lower its prices enough to monopolize the industry [source: Strickland]. One of the reasons China could sell lithium so cheaply was because it widely ignored environmental safeguards during the mining process. In the Bayan Obo region of China, for example, miners removed topsoil and extracted the gold-flecked metals using acids that entered the groundwater, destroying nearby agricultural land. Even the normally tight-lipped Chinese government admitted that rare earth mining has been abused in some places. A regulator at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China went so far as to tell The New York Times, "This has caused great harm to the ecology and environment" [source: Bradsher].
So to summarize, every action has a consequence, and even the mighty hybrid car causes it's own specific type of environmental damage. Carbon Dioxide will eventually be naturally sequestered through photosynthesis. Strip mining the countryside isn't as easily negated.
It's not secret that batteries are harmful to develop. But, as studies show, while initial car production of hybrids (like the volt) and EVs (like the leaf) are far more better for the environment over continued use.
Since battery degradation hasn't been a real problem with the most popular hybrids up to 300,000 miles (with a failure rate of less than 1%), it's not really an issue. Other parts on the car die before the battery does.
It depends on how you look at it. While they reduce the use of fossil fuels and pollution when being driven, the process of manufacturing their batteries is very bad for the environment, and charging them uses electricity which may be coming from a coal fired power plant.
This is mostly false on battery manufacturing and mostly false on energy usage. Manufacturing lithium batteries is a pretty clean production process--and much, much cleaner than the lead-acid batteries used by combustion cars.
Power production varies by geography. For the grids where most Americans live, EVs are much cleaner than tailpipe emissions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140
Unfortunately, though, 33% of electricity produced in the USA is from burning coal. One irony is that building more roads would greatly reduce emissions from vehicles, with more of it coming from idling cars stuck in traffic jams than when moving at the speed limit.
And here is where time of charging can exponentially improve the cleanliness of EVs. In the US's sunbelt, charging during midday (say, in a parking lot at work) can make use of robust solar energy production. In areas with ample nuclear power, charging overnight, while you sleep, can make use of that baseload energy. In the West, and to a lesser extent the northeast, the grid is clean enough that EVs are much cleaner than combustion cars. It's not really ironic that building more roads would reduce vehicle emissions. It's no secret that traffic is bad for the environment.
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