This text is taken from the “Courrier de la planete” of June 7, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
The transition to electric vehicles is well under way. On the scale of Quebec society, a date has been set for achieving this: 2035. But on an individual scale, many motorists are wondering about the date of their “electrification”.
Eric Vandal, a reader of Courrier de la Planète, wants to go electric for his next car. He currently drives a 2010 Pontiac Vibe with a 1.8 liter engine. But which option is better for the environment: change now or wait?
First, it is useful to refer to life cycle analyzes comparing electric cars to traditional ones with a combustion engine. These studies take everything into account, from extracting the resources needed for manufacturing, to recycling end-of-life vehicles, and including their use.
One observation always comes back to this: at the start of their life, electric vehicles have a higher carbon footprint than traditional vehicles. The difference lies in the materials contained in the electric motors and batteries, such as lithium, the extraction of which is energy-intensive. The “carbon” delay is then caught up over the kilometers travelled.
Let’s take a specific example to illustrate the gap in emissions attributable to manufacturing: when leaving the factory, a Tesla Model 3 (electric) already accumulates 12 tons of CO2, compared to 7 tons for a Toyota RAV4 (traditional), according to an analysis by the University of Toronto.
“equivalence point”
For its entire life cycle, however, a car powered by renewable electricity — as is the case in Quebec — has a carbon footprint about 80% lower than a traditional car, according to a published study. in 2021 by the American organization International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
The “equivalence point”, where traditional and electric vehicles have the same carbon footprint, is highly dependent on the models being compared. However, according to a Quebec study carried out in 2016 by the International Reference Center for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services (CIRAIG) on a few representative models, it was 32,000 km.
“A new electric vehicle is interesting when you do a lot of mileage, because you quickly offset the emissions associated with the production of the vehicle,” explains Andréanne Brazeau, a mobility analyst at Équiterre. And also by the fact that the old vehicle will surely end up in the hands of a person who drives less, and therefore the vehicle will also emit less. »
If Mr. Vandal wants to arrive at the best choice for the planet, he must also consider the context of scarcity currently observed in the market for electric vehicles. Consumers have to wait several months, even more than a year, as demand is strong.
The owner of a fuel-efficient vehicle can therefore keep it a little longer knowing that other motorists, driving vehicles that consume a lot of fuel, will be able to further reduce their emissions by buying a zero-emission vehicle in their place — if they choose to actually buy electric…
“When you have a vehicle, of course it’s better to stretch its lifespan as long as possible,” Ms. Brazeau generally advises. On the occasion of a replacement, it also suggests that motorists take a moment to assess their real transport needs and favor small models.
A response destined to change
Of course, vehicles do not only harm the environment in terms of the climate: they also contribute to the exploitation of natural environments, the creation of waste, atmospheric pollution, etc.
According to CIRAIG’s life cycle analysis — which also looked at aspects other than GHG emissions — electric vehicles are less harmful to the environment in all categories, except in terms of resource depletion. minerals, where they do a little less well than traditional vehicles.
All in all, the answer to Mr. Vandal’s question might be to wait a bit before buying an electric vehicle, unless it has particularly high mileage.
However, this answer could change in the coming years: the ICCT predicts that battery production will be 20% less carbon-intensive by 2030. It also estimates that recycling batteries could “significantly” reduce the associated emissions. What undeniably tip the scales to one side.