Electric Vehicles (Energy)

The Tesla Roadster, which has a top speed of 125 mph and costs $101,500, represents the high end of the electric vehicle spectrum.

Electric Vehicles

Published: November 12, 2010, 12:00 am

Updated: May 18, 2021, 6:19 pm

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Electric (main)

Vehicles powered by electric motors or by a combination of gasoline engines and electric motors are becoming more common, with two percent of the USA fleet being electric,. Such vehicles are useful in the slow, stop-and-go traffic of cities, but are less advantageous for high-speed, long-distance travel and hills. Battery technology limits the amount of energy that a vehicle can carry and thus its speed, range, and leads to long recharge time. Lead-acid batteries are inexpensive and reliable but are heavy and have low energy and power per size and weight. Several manufacturers of these vehicles has developed a model equipped with lithium polymer batteries that will extend its range to 100 miles (161 km), but pricing and availability have yet to be determined.

Example vehicles

On the high end of the electric vehicle spectrum is a Tesla Roadster. For $101,500, one can purchase this electric-powered sports car that has a top speed of 125 mph, an acceleration from 0 mph to 60 mph in under 4 seconds, and a range of about 220 miles. This vehicle is equipped with 6831 lithium-ion cells, each about the size of an “AA” battery. (Berdichevsky et al, 2007) Together, the battery cells weigh 992 pounds (450 kg), have a service life that could extend 80,000 miles (161,000 km), and cost more than $30,000 retail, when replacement is needed. Recharge time is as short as 3.5 hours with a special, stationary charging unit and eight hours or longer with a mobile unit.

General features

Electric vehicles, despite their limited range, long recharge (refueling) times, and high costs, have some advantages over other vehicle types. Electric motors often achieve up to 90% conversion efficiency (the ratio of the input of electrical energy to the output of kinetic energy in the moving vehicle), and electric vehicles themselves emit no greenhouse gases; however, fossil fuels are part of the energy mix needed to charge the electric vehicle, so that greenhouse gases are a product of electric vehicle use. The power plants that generate the electricity to charge the vehicles produce greenhouse gases, but large power plants are more efficient than small engines and may enlist carbon capture and storage technologies. Moreover, electric vehicles can recharge at night during the slack hours for electric power grids and thus, may not strain current generating capacities. Some electric vehicles even work to charge themselves through regenerative braking, in which the electric motor driving the wheels also acts as a generator, which helps stop the vehicle by converting the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle into electricity that recharges its batteries. Recent tests have shown that EVs fall much shorter than internal combustion vehicles than previously thought, even in the metrics of fuel or battery used for conventional driving. (Miller, 2023)

Energy to manufacture batteries

Battery manufacture and disposal for electric vehicle lithium batteries require large amounts of energy. This factor is to be considered in calculating the effective comparison of total fossil fuel consumed over the life cycle of an electric vehicle. For example the carbon cost of manufacturing a single Tesla Model S lithium battery is 7300 kg,(Dai et al, 2019}, rendering that electric vehicle less carbon efficient than the 2021 Prius Hybrid Electric, or even less carbon efficient than a conventional high efficiency internal combustion auto, when one considers the full carbon life cycle cost. However, as Dai notes, the 7300 kg of carbon dioxide to produce one lithium battery is underestimated due to: (a) not accounting for energy intensive manufacturing conditions of extreme dehumidification and temperature control needed where most production occurs, such as South Korea and China; and (b) not accounting for the very energy intensive transport over dirt roads for cobalt ore in Congo. Thus the carbon cost of the subject lithium ion battery is at least 8000 kg of CO2. Dai et al assert: " we conclude that the upstream production of (lithium ion) battery materials as a whole incurs more energy and environmental burdens than the cell production and pack assembly process."

Pedestrian deaths,

Noise pollution is greatly reduced for electric vehlcles, compared to conventional gasoline or diesel engine vehicles; however, pedestrian death rates are increasing due to lesser ability of pedestrians to hear oncoming electric vehicle approach. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a large scale twelve state study that showed electric vehicles are 35 percent more likely to cause a pedestrian fatality. The pedestrian deaths by electric vehicles are particularly high for children and seniors. Pedestrian deaths had declined steadily since 1980 had declined steadily until 2010, when electric cars were introduced; in the next nine years pedestrian deaths increased by 70.1 percent. Bicyclist deaths due to electric vehicles demonstrates an even higher percentage kill rate compared to pedestrians. Most dramatically as electric vehicle adoption accelerated in 2020, pedestrian deaths per vehicle mile increased an astonishing twenty percent.

Maintenance

Electric vehicles also have a certain appeal from a mechanical and engineering perspective. An electric motor provides high torque (rotational force down a shaft) over the full range of speeds, and therefore electric vehicles do not need gears, belts, or chains between the motor and the wheels. All the components in an electric vehicle operate at temperatures near room temperature. Consequently, electric vehicles require less maintenance than gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles. Typically, only the tires and brakes need regular service. Furthermore, electric vehicles cause far more maintenance issues due to their myriad sensors and controls, causing greater operating costs , but also more carbon emissions due to manufacture of more replacement parts. (St. John & Levin, 2023)

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Slave Labor used for most Electric Vehicle Battery Manufacture

A growing concern is the amount of slave labor, including forced child labor, required to manufacture the lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles. About 70% of the world's electric vehicle batteries are produced in China; most of the manufacturing facilities utilize force labor, especially of the ethnic minority Uyghur population. (New York Times, June 21, 2022) There is often extensive use of slave labor for conducting the mining of the rare earth and toxic metals required for EV battery manufacture, including many of the mines in Southern Africa, using indigenous African workers.

Electric Vehicle Battery Disposal

Children amid e-waste site containing solar panel, electric vehicle and other e-waste. Dhaka, Bangladesh. According to World Health Organization, such e-wast sites endanger millions of children as well as groundwater.

Disposal of electric vehicle batteries is a major problem. There are presently only experimental efforts to study recycling; otherwise, most of these batteries, which have highly toxic contents end up in landfills, subject to toxic elements leaking into soils or groundwater. (Lander et al, 2021) There is an active industry in the USA and several other countries to ship this toxic waste to underdeveloped countries such as Bangladesh, where toxic disposal of electronic wastes is not regulated.

Moreover, the lack of recycling profitability is leading to an increased export of electric vehicle batteries to countries without strong hazardous waste legislation, to dispose illegally (Baars et al., 2020; Green, 2017; Skeete et al., 2020; Steward et al., 2019). It has been estimated that illegal disposal occurs for 30% of vehicles in the United Kingdom (Skeete et al., 2020). According to Winslow: "If recycling remains unprofitable, battery waste mountains could build up, which, if uncontrolled, bear a significant environmental and safety risk, as toxic chemicals could leak into the environment and landfill fires might occur" (Winslow et al., 2018). Therefore, the lack of ability to properly dispose used electric vehicle batteries creates not only an environmental impact, but an implied large carbon footprint impact, that cannot be quantified.

This is partially excerpted from the book Global Climate Change: Convergence of Disciplines by Dr. Arnold J. Bloom and taken from UCVerse of the University of California. ©2010 Sinauer Associates and UC Regents

See Also

• Autonomous Vehicle

References

• J. Baars, T. Domenech, R. Bleischwitz, H.E. Melin, O. Heidrich (2020) Circular economy strategies for electric vehicle batteries reduce reliance on raw materials. Nat. Sustain. , pp. 1-9, 10.1038/s41893-020-00607-0
• Berdichevsky, G., K. Kelty, J. Straubel, and E. Toomre (2007) The Tesla Roadster Battery System, Tesla Motors, San Carlos, CA, http://www.teslamotors.com/display_data/TeslaRoadsterBatterySyst.em.pdf
• M. Green (2017) Aspects of battery legislation in recycling and Re-use - perspectives from the UK and EU regulatory environment. Johnson Matthey Tech. Rev., 61 , pp. 87-92
• Qiang Dai, Jarod Kelly, Linda Gaines and Michael Wang (2019) Life Cycle Analysis of Lithium-Ion Batteries for Automotive Applications. Systems Assessment Group, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, DuPage County, Argonne, IL 60439, USA. Batteries 2019, 5(2), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries5020048
• Laura Lander, Tom Cleaver, Mohammad Ali Rajaeifar, Viet Nguyen, Tien Robert, J.R.Elliott, Oliver Heidrich, Emma Kendrick, Jacqueline Sophie Edge, Gregory Offer (2021) Financial viability of electric vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling. Elsevier. Volume 24, Issue 7, 23 July 2021, 102787
• Matthew Lynn (2023)
• Caleb Miller (2023) EVs Fall Short of EPA Estimates by a Much Larger Margin Than Gas Cars in Our Real-World Highway TestingCar and Driver. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/evs-fall-short-of-epa-estimates-by-a-much-larger-margin-than-gas-cars-in-our-real-world-highway-testing/ar-AA1a9Fdw?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=c4674b9448984f7da7a288911cb8d345&ei=10
• New York Times, Ana Swanson and Chris Buckley (June 21, 2022) Red Flags for Forced Labor Found in China’s Car Battery Supply ChainTies to potentially coercive labor practices could prove a problem for an industry that is heavily dependent on China, once a new law barring Xinjiang products goes into effect.
• Alexa St. John and Tim Levin (2023) Technology is Giving Cars more Nagging Problems than ever Business Insider https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/technology-is-giving-cars-more-nagging-problems-than-ever/ar-AA1cVNMG?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=86a5a1c6432449bca140c09033e9ca64&ei=10
• J.P. Skeete, P. Wells, X. Dong, O. Heidrich, G. Harper (2020) Beyond the EVent horizon: battery waste, recycling, and sustainability in the United Kingdom electric vehicle transition. Energy Res. Soc. Sci., 69, p. 101581, 10.1016/j.erss.2020.101581
• D. Steward, A. Mayyas, M. Mann (2019) Economics and challenges of Li-ion battery recycling from end-of-life vehicles. Proced. Manufact., 33, pp. 272-279, 10.1016/j.promfg.2019.04.033
• K.M. Winslow, S.J. Laux, T.G. Townsend (2018) A review on the growing concern and potential management strategies of waste lithium-ion batteries. Resour. Conservat. Recycling, 129, pp. 263-277, 10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.11.001

Citation

Arnold Bloom and C. Michael Hogan (2012, updated 2021). Electric Vehicles. ed. Margaret Swisher. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and Environment. Washington DC. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Electric_Vehicles_(Energy)