There currently is a large push to move from typical fossil fuels, one of the main contributors to climate change, to renewable energy sources and technologies that run off of them. One popular aspect of this energy shift is to move the energy source for passenger vehicles from gasoline to electricity. This push is because in United States, transportation produces 26 percent of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and the majority of of emissions that the transportation emits is from passenger vehicles [1]. A transformation of the U.S. transportation sector could have massive effects on reducing emissions. Although electric vehicle technology has been around for over 100 years, combustion engine vehicles were able to adopt the electric vehicle’s original major advantages of easy operation and quieter running noise [2]. Ever since the gas automobile was able to accomplish similar qualities of electric vehicles more economically, electric vehicle technology has not been developed nearly as much and purchasing a gas vehicle has become cheaper than electric vehicles, making them even less desirable for the average consumer [3]. However, if electric vehicles can be proven better for the environment and more economical when including the cost of maintenance and use in addition to the cost of purchasing the vehicle, people would be more inclined to buy electric vehicles and further spur the development of the electric vehicle industry increasing the economic value and efficiency of the technology.
Electric vehicles are proven to be more economical and environmentally friendly than gas vehicles when comparing just the impacts of using either type of vehicle. According to one of Carl Vogels equations, the price of electrical energy equivalent to the amount of energy in a gallon of gas is 0.84 dollars which can be compared to the average price of gas around Newton which is approximately 2.25 dollars [4]. Additionally, The Union of Concerned scientists found that the average gasoline passenger vehicle gets 27 mpg, the maximum lifetime of a vehicle is about 166,000 miles, and that the average lifetime cost of energy for an electric car is 5,200 dollars [5]. If these numbers were applied to a gas price of 2.25 dollars per gallon, the savings would be 8,525 dollars. Additionally, while the average gasoline vehicle gets 27mpg, and produces 11,200 grams of CO₂e/gallon used, the average electric vehicle running off of coal electricity would pollute the equivalent amount of greenhouse gasses to a 30 mpg car, an electric vehicle running off of natural gas alone and nuclear power alone would pollute the equivalent amount of gasses to a 54 mpg and 2000 mpg car respectively [6]. However, many studies that support electric vehicles do not factor in or study the pollution involved in producing high tech components of the electric vehicles.
The main issue that challenges electric vehicles is the energy spent and pollution produced from manufacturing and then recycling or disposing of the batteries. According to the IEEE article Unclean at Any Speed by Ozzie Zehner, the manufacturing process of electric vehicles, particularly in the production of the battery, is too energy intensive to make electric vehicles better for the environment [7]. Additionally, Mr. Zehner claims that even if electric vehicles ran off of a renewable resource powered energy grid, the additional energy put into producing the solar panels and wind turbines would outweigh the energy/pollution saved in the transportation industry and electric vehicles would still not be better for reducing emissions. When Mr. Zehner evaluates the pollution released from operating electric vehicles, a significant portion of their pollution, he is basing the electricity grid off of the entire United State’s grid. This is good for the average U.S. consumer however, I am interested in evaluating the energy costs for a person in New England which changes the pollution statistics.
Because operating electric vehicles contributes a major part of the vehicle's overall pollution, evaluating the emissions of the New England electric grid accurately could alter the overall emissions of electric vehicles significantly from national statistics. While Mr. Zehner completed his study using the national electricity grid, the New England grid is quite different. The US electricity grid is 38.7 percent run off of coal, one of the most polluting forms of electricity generation [8]. The New England grid however, is made up only 2.4 percent by coal and is mainly powered by natural gas at 49 percent which emits around half as much pollution as coal generated electricity and powered 31 percent by nuclear energy and just over 10 percent on a combination of non-polluting hydro, wind, and solar power sources [9]. Natural gas releases 50 to 60 percent of greenhouse gasses when burned for electricity generation however in some power plants, wells, and pipelines that are made poorly for greater profit, there are more pollutants that are released through leaks into the environment [10]. More research is needed to evaluate the effects of New England’s natural gas power systems. Nuclear power emits very little pollutants when creating electricity however, it’s energy intensive in the construction and demolition of the plants along with the processing of the no longer needed nuclear waste [11].
Gasoline vehicles on the other hand, as mentioned above, pollute more per mile, and have a significant amount of pollution released from extracting, transporting, and refining the oil. The epa reports that 411 grams per mile of CO₂ are released by the average vehicle. In addition, according to Devin Serpa, there is 2.4589 lbs of CO₂ emitted from refining one gallon of gasoline [13]. These numbers will be added together for a more accurate total than just considering the greenhouse gasses produced from just operating the gasoline vehicle and give a more level playing field to the electric versus gas vehicle debate because many times electric vehicle emissions include the entire lifecycle of the car but gas vehicle emissions evaluations sometimes only consider the tailpipe emissions.
Because measuring cost and impact on the environment has so many complex factors, compiling reliable sources to examine the entire system becomes even more critical. I will use the sources I have found to determine the complete lifecycle costs and environmental impacts of both types of vehicle and will then be able to determine with confidence whether electric vehicles are indeed better for a person living in New England.
Bibliography
[1] Epa. “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” epa.gov. Last modified February 14, 2017. Accessed April 4, 2017. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions.
[2] Mom, Gijs. The Electric Vehicle: Technology and Expectations in the Automobile Age. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
[3] Ibid
[4] Vogel, Carl. Build Your Own Electric Motorcycle. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009.
[5] Anair, Don, and Amine Mahmassani. State of Charge. June 2012. Accessed April 4, 2017. http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-report.pdf.
[6] Ibid
[7] Zehner, Ozzie. “Unclean at Any Speed.” In IEEE. Previously published in IEEE, June 2013. Accessed April 4, 2017. http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/unclean-at-any-speed.
[8] EGRID2014v2. February 27, 2017. Accessed April 4, 2017. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-02/documents/egrid2014_summarytables_v2.pdf.
[9] Resource Mix. January 2017. Accessed April 4, 2017. https://www.iso-ne.com/about/key-stats/resource-mix.
[10]
UCS. “Environmental Impacts of Natural Gas.” ucsusa.org. Last modified 2013. Accessed April 4, 2017. http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/coal-and-other-fossil-fuels/environmental-impacts-of-natural-gas#.WORizxIrKt9.
[11] Comparison of Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Various Electricity Generation Sources. July 2011. Accessed April 4, 2017. http://www.world-nuclear.org/uploadedFiles/org/WNA/Publications/Working_Group_Reports/comparison_of_lifecycle.pdf.
[12] Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle. November 21, 2016. Accessed April 4, 2017. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-02/documents/420f14040a.pdf.
[13] Serpa, Devin. CO2 EMISSIONS FROM REFINING GASOLINE. August 28, 2008. Accessed April 4, 2017. http://www.afteroilev.com/Pub/CO2_Emissions_from_Refining_Gasoline.pdf.