Sustainable future: Are electric vehicles as environment friendly as you believe?

17-03-2021

Governments across the world are putting in place policies to encourage the use of electric vehicles to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector – one of the major offenders. There is no doubt that electric vehicles are cleaner than the traditional ones that run on fossil fuels. They cause lesser emissions and are more efficient. The pertinent question, however, is – are they, in reality, as environment friendly as you think? The answer to the question primarily depends on how electric vehicles are manufactured, and how electricity is produced to power them.

Environmental impact of manufacturing processes
Many rare-earth metals like lanthanum, dysprosium, neodymium and terbium are used for manufacturing batteries of electric vehicles. Extraction and manipulation of these rare-earth elements cause emissions. Also, the extraction of lithium, an alkali metal widely used for making batteries, requires huge quantities of water. A study revealed the pollution caused by the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles is on par or slightly more than the production process of conventional internal combustion engine vehicles (fuel-based vehicles).

Power generation for electric cars
As of December 31, 2020, the total installed electricity generation capacity in India is 375.32 GW. Of this, 36.19 per cent is the share of installed renewable power capacity. Around three-quarters (75 per cent) of India’s electricity during the 2018-19 fiscal year (FY) came from coal-based power plants. So, can we call electric cars 'green if we burn coal to charge their batteries? Electric vehicles, in true sense, can be called eco-friendly only when they run renewable energy. To achieve sustainability through electric mobility, we must end our relationship with carbon-intensive means of electricity generation.

Sustainable future
Electric vehicles are far cleaner than their fuel-based counterparts. As they become mainstream, we must develop efficient techniques to manufacture them. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that they are not a cure for our climate woes, but combined renewables they offer us a road to greatly cut GHG emissions.