posted 15th June 2022
The answer to this question might seem obvious: Of course electric cars must be better for the environment, because they don’t have exhausts and so don’t emit greenhouse gasses as they drive.
However, electric vehicles (EVs) aren't perfect, and they come with their own set of polluting problems. Notably, their batteries contain components, such as lithium, that require a significant amount of energy to source and extract.
Battery production is only part of an electric cars lifespan. If cars are charged with electricity produced from burning fossil fuels they can actually be worse than traditional gasoline cars.
In many developed countries of the world, however, national grids are now clean enough for EVs to beat their gasoline-powered counterparts when it comes to pollution during their lifetimes.
We can further reduce the impact on the power networks by using a technique known as smart charging, that’s where vehicles are recharged at strategically chosen times to minimize the financial cost of generating electricity. This also favours more efficient energy-producing power stations that produce cheaper electricity. If all privately owned electric cars were charged in such a way, the emissions savings could rise significantly annually.
There is a pattern of improvement — more renewable energies and fewer fossil fuels and it helps to boost the environmental credentials of electric vehicles.