However, electric cars are not perfect and they come with their own pollution problems. Typically, their batteries contain ingredients such as lithium, which require a considerable amount of energy to source and extract.

However, making batteries is only part of the life cycle of electric vehicles. A 2014 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at the entire emissions life cycle of an electric vehicle, from mining the metals needed for batteries to producing the electricity needed. to power them, then compare this to the average emissions of a gasoline car. The team found that when electric cars are charged with coal-fired electricity, they actually do more harm to the environment than conventional gasoline cars.

Buying an electric car is much more affordable than a gas or diesel from an environmental perspective. Illustration

But that is not a problem because today, in most countries around the world, the national grid is “clean” enough for electric cars to beat competitors running on gasoline.

There are very few countries in the world where the grid is entirely or mostly coal. China is one of them. In 2019, an estimated 58% of the country’s electricity supply comes from coal. China’s grid is improving, however, with more investments in renewables – for example, it has twice the capacity of wind power as the US and builds more solar panels than any other country. Every year, according to Nature.

Mr. Gordon Bauer, an electric vehicle researcher at the International Council for Clean Transport in San Francisco, USA, said the current improved grid model, with more renewable energy and less fossil fuels. , is a global model and helps improve the environmental quality of electric vehicles. “As the grid becomes” greener “, the use of electric vehicles will be more perfect,” he said.

In a study published this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Colin Sheppard, a researcher in energy and transport systems engineering at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, Work with Gordon Bauer to model a hypothetical future scenario where all cars are powered by electricity. “We want to understand the impact of energy, infrastructure and emissions if all passenger vehicles are electrified,” Sheppard told Live Science.

For example, Mr. Sheppard calculated that if all private vehicles in the United States were powered by electricity, the annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the country would be 46% (0.5 gigatons of CO2) compared to cars. run on conventional gas.

This reduction could be further increased if the vehicles were subjected to so-called “controlled charging”, a technique also known as “smart charging”, in which the vehicles are recharged into Timing is selected to minimize the financial cost of electricity generation. (For example, charging at night is generally less expensive than during the day; this strategy also favors plants that produce more energy efficiently to generate cheaper electricity.) If all privately owned electric cars were charged in the same way, emissions savings could be increased by up to 49% annually.

In addition, electric vehicles are said to also emit CO2, but not during use, but when generating electricity – this is why many people believe that this car is not completely pure. Even the president of Toyota once harshly said that electric cars are being overblown.

In fact, electrochemical vehicles including Hybrid (HEV), Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) still emit CO2 even when used (because there is still an internal combustion engine) and possibly when generating electricity, depending on how it is generated. electricity. While pure electric vehicles can only generate CO2 in the production process, not when used.

Depending on the source of electricity generation is hydroelectricity, wind power or thermal power, nuclear power … that the amount of CO2 generation will be different. If hydroelectricity, CO2 level is almost zero, while thermal power is too much CO2.

Research by Bloomberg NEF in Thailand shows that electric cars generate 60% of the CO2 equivalent of a gasoline equivalent vehicle. This source of CO2 comes entirely from production, because Thailand generates electricity mainly from natural gas. While internal combustion engine vehicles produce CO2 in an 80/20 ratio between use and production.

For example, if a gasoline car generates 100 g CO2 / km 80 g from use and 20 g from gas production. While a corresponding electric car model only generates 60 g of CO2 from use. As such, electric cars are still significantly cleaner than gasoline cars.

For countries with clean electricity generation sources such as Norway, up to 95% of electrical energy comes from hydroelectricity, CO2 emissions are even lower. The future of electric vehicles is becoming clearer as more automakers are involved in the production and research of electric vehicles. Users often do not care too much about CO2 emissions in production, but realize that when used, it will help where cars circulate with less pollution.

Ultimately, the conclusion is that buying an electric car is much more affordable than a gas or diesel car from an environmental perspective.

Thu Ha (Th)

The number of car charging stations is increasing globally and also in Vietnam.

The energy provided for electric vehicles is increasingly clean

The REN21 Global Renewable Energy (GSR) Report of 2020 (Global Multilateral Renewable Energy Policy Network) shows that, over the past 5 years, the renewable energy sector has reached its speed. 3 times higher than electricity produced from nuclear and fossil fuels.

“When the grid becomes ‘greener’, using electric vehicles will be more perfect ”, Gordon Bauer – electric vehicle researcher at the International Council for Clean Transport in San Francisco (USA) said. According to expert Gordon Bauer, the current innovative grid model will help improve the environmental efficiency of electric vehicles around the world.

The evidence is a study by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California (USA) that if all personal vehicles in the US are powered by electricity, each year, the country will lose 46%. greenhouse gas (0.5 gigatons CO2 equivalent) compared to conventional fossil fuel cars.

This is what environmental activists expect. Anne Laurent, president of the All-European Environmental Union, admits the members “have no doubts” about the positive impact this vehicle can have on the planet.

“We do not expect a perfect solution. Therefore, we are delighted that electric vehicles deliver positive environmental indicators“Ms. Laurent said in a report released at the end of 2020.

In Vietnam, green vehicles are also developing with the launch of private cars and VinFast electric buses. And look at “National energy development strategy to 2030, vision to 2045” – with the goal that the renewable energy in the total primary energy supply will reach 15 – 20% by 2030 and increase to 25-30% by 2045 we have the right to hope for a “green future, clean air” when clean cars are powered by clean electricity.

Electric vehicle batteries are too expensive to be … garbage

In addition to generating electricity, environmental activists have been concerned about the fate of electric vehicle battery blocks after they have run out of “trumps”. Elon Musk was the “victim” of this wave of protest. But in fact, electric car batteries can not be thrown away because … too expensive, even after the expiry date.

The reason is that the prices of cobalt, lithium, nickel and the metals used in lithium-ion batteries have skyrocketed as the electric car race intensifies between manufacturers across Asia to Europe and the US. Therefore, all electric car manufacturers are researching and announcing solutions to handle expired batteries with battery recycling technology.

“To meet electric vehicle battery demand in the next 10 years, the industry will need 1.5 million tons of lithium, 1.5 million tons of graphite, 1 million tons of nickel and 500,000 tons of manganese. Today, the world produces less than a third of that material ”Sam Jaffe, CEO of Cairn ERA, an energy consulting firm in the US, told CNBC.

Some studies show that recycling can recover between 95 and 98 percent of the nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminum, and more than 80 percent of the battery’s lithium. Ms. Celina Mikolajczak, Vice President of Battery Technology and Technology at Panasonic Energy North America, said that the battery recycling industry will be a billion-dollar land with the development of electric vehicles.

“There are so many benefits to recycling and it would be really stupid if we didn’t take advantage of the old battery cells’ ability to make the next generation.”Ms. Celina Mikolajczak confirmed.

This excellent solution not only eliminates the worry of running out of production materials, but also removes electric vehicle batteries from the burden of the environment.

There are more than 50 companies around the world engaged in the recycling of lithium-ion batteries of varying sizes, most of them concentrated in China (more than 20 companies), followed by Korea (6 companies), followed by the EU, Japan, Canada and the US. Even global tech giant Amazon hasn’t overlooked this potential by investing $ 2 billion in Redwood Materials, a battery recycling startup founded by former Tesla chief JB Straubel. Redwood Materials is also responsible for recycling electric vehicle batteries for Tesla.

In addition to recycling batteries for reuse for electric vehicles themselves, a series of projects to utilize old batteries have been implemented recently by car manufacturers. Toyota has a project to connect old electric vehicle batteries with solar panels to power 7-Eleven stores in Japan; Nissan is using old batteries to power the small robots; Renault is working with its partners to introduce static energy storage systems made of old electric vehicle batteries … Other car manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Lucid Motors or Proterra … are also incorporating reusable principles into their designs. the battery.

“We believe that the ‘second life’ battery will become an independent business and cannot be disposed of as trash.”, Weiland Bruch, BMW spokesman forecasts.

When the final concern was that electric vehicle batteries turned into environmental waste were completely eliminated – it’s easy to understand why green cars are supported by environmental activists around the world. And that will also be the green future that we need to move towards to escape the country’s “scandal” of the “two-wheeled gas factories” that international indicators set for Vietnam.