b'Is That Electric Car Really Better?T he number of electric cars, buses, vans, and heavyThe Construcks on roads is expected to hit 145 million byElectricity grids in most of the world are still powered by fossil 2030, the International Energy Agency predicts. Thefuels, such as coal or oil, and electric vehicles depend on that purchase growth of these vehicles is not surprisingenergy to get charged. Separately, electric vehicle battery pro-because of the purported environmental benefits ofduction remains an energy-intensive process. A study from the electric cars. As the world climate changes, focus hasMassachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative found shifted to what people can do to make the world a better placethat battery and fuel production for an EV generates higher for future generations. Concerned citizens are taking whateveremissions than manufacturing of a gas-powered automobile. But steps they can to cut down on fossil fuel-related emissions. those higher environmental costs are offset by electric vehicles superior energy efficiency.The question is, are electric cars as helpfulto the environment as weve been told? Electric vehicles rely on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. If you base your answer solely on emissions from the car as itsMaking those batteriesfrom mining raw materials like cobalt being driven, then yes, electric cars are greener than cars that useand lithium, to production in giga factories and transportation gasoline. However, those who argue against the green nature of is energy-intensive, and one of the biggest sources of carbon these vehicles use the vehicles production as a strike against theemissions from electric vehicles today.environmentally friendly reputation. Here are the facts: Producing electric vehicles leads to significantly more emissions than producing petrol cars. Depending on the country of produc-The Pros tion, thats between 30% to 40% extra in production emissions, Experts broadly agree that electric vehicles (EV) create a lowerwhich is mostly from the battery production, said Florian carbon footprint during their lifetime than do cars and trucksKnobloch, a fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Environment, that use traditional, internal combustion engines. Energy and Natural Resource Governance, to CNBC.An electric vehicle in the U.S., on average, emits about 200 gramsIf the environmental benefits of electric vehicles intrigue you, of CO2 per mile, whereas an average gasoline powered passen- youll be happy to hear that the Biden Administration an-ger vehicle emits about 411 grams of CO2 per mile. CO2 trapsnounced its goal to accelerate and deploy electric vehicles and heat in the atmosphere, and as the worlds temperature steadilycharging stations, create good-paying, union jobs, and enable increases, decreasing these emissions is a priority. Based on thesea clean transportation future. This means we are working to numbers alone, electric vehicles are an important part of slowingimprove the infrastructure which will support increased electric or reversing the effects of climate change. vehicle usage.But if youre not sold on the alleged environmental success of electric vehicles, the changes coming in the industry may help change your mind. The batteries used to power electric vehicles are built in fossil-fueled factories. Across the industry, manufac-turers are researching ways to improve these factories to decrease carbon emissions. No matter where you fall on the electricvehicle debate, EVs are here to stay. 12'