Sure, I'd be happy to add sources.. Apologies as they are likely behind paywalls, but i'll try to summarize key points:
Motortrend: You're Being Lied To About Electric Cars
"Even if you only ever burned coal to create the electricity to power EVs, that's still less CO2 than is released by burning gasoline."
New York Times: E.V.s Start With a Bigger Carbon Footprint. But That Doesn’t Last.
"Studies have found that, though it’s true that the production of a B.E.V. causes more pollution than a gasoline-powered counterpart, this greenhouse-gas emission difference is erased as the vehicle is driven.
And erasing the difference does not appear to take very long. In a
study conducted by the University of Michigan (with a grant from the Ford Motor Company), the pollution equation evens out between 1.4 to 1.5 years for sedans, 1.6 to 1.9 years for S.U.V.s and about 1.6 years for pickup trucks, based on the average number of vehicle miles traveled in the United States."
New York Times: How Green Are Electric Vehicles?
"An all-electric Chevrolet Bolt, for instance, can be expected to produce 189 grams of carbon dioxide for every mile driven over its lifetime, on average. By contrast, a new gasoline-fueled Toyota Camry is estimated to produce 385 grams of carbon dioxide per mile. A new Ford F-150 pickup truck, which is even less fuel-efficient, produces 636 grams of carbon dioxide per mile.
But that’s just an average. On the other hand, if the Bolt is charged up on a coal-heavy grid, such as those currently found in the Midwest, it can actually be a bit worse for the climate than a modern hybrid car like the Toyota Prius, which runs on gasoline but uses a battery to bolster its mileage. (The coal-powered Bolt would still beat the Camry and the F-150, however.)"
Included in this article is an
MIT online tool for comparing the climate impacts of different vehicles.
Wall Street Journal: Driving an EV is Getting Greener, Especially in the US
"Regardless of where they are driven, EVs are always a climate-friendlier choice than their gasoline counterparts, according to recent studies published by the European Environment Agency and the International Energy Agency, as well as academic research. In 2020, for example, researchers from Cambridge, Exeter and the Netherlands found that driving an electric car is better for the climate in 95% of the world.
This is also the case when taking into account the emissions released during the manufacturing of batteries and the mining of the metals needed to make batteries, a big part of an EV’s overall carbon footprint over its lifetime. The IEA published
data in October last year showing that even when using the dirtiest battery materials EVs still produced less than half the CO2 emissions of combustion engines over their lifetimes.
And that performance is improving. CO2 emissions from power generation worldwide have fallen 11% since 2007, when they peaked at 489 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour, according to the 2023
Global Electricity Review by Ember Climate, an environmental think tank. "
These are three quick articles, but the takeaway is that even if the EV is using electricity generated by a coal-fired power plant, it's almost always better for the environment over it's life cyle than it's fossil fuel burning counterpart. This is largely due to the fact that a steam turbine generator combined with an EV's electric motor is WAYYYYYY more efficeint at turning the energy stored in fossil fuels into motion. ICE engines are like
50% or less efficient at turning fuel into motion as tons of energy is lost as heat whereas EV motors are
like 90% efficient.
All articles posted above are taking into account the full life cycle of the vehicle, from production to it's lifetime use.
This is an issue.. The middle NYT article above talks about cobalt mining and how unfortunately a significant portion still comes from totally unregulated (read: terrible) mines in Congo. My personal speculation (based with some professional experience) is that this will get a LOT better. Rivian cannot sell itself as the "patagonia of cars" if it is sourcing from these mines.. Reputational risk is too great for large EV manufacturers.
And recycling is also an issue. But my understanding is that most of an EV's Lithium ion battery can actually be recycled, there just hasn't been enough market pressure to do it:
Car & Driver: Everything you need to know about EV battery disposal
Here is a good article from NYT that talks about it as well :
New York Times: Electric Cars are Taking Off, but When Will Battery Recycling Follow?
"Fortunately, those battery ingredients are also highly reusable. And now a race is on to collect and recycle used lithium-ion batteries. Venture capitalists, automakers and energy companies are pouring money into dozens of start-up recycling companies in North America and Europe."
This article poses that batteries are highly recyclable and currently the main issue is that there simply are not enough to recycle to make building and operating recycling facilities worth it..
Again, I didn't specifically buy an EV for its environmental impact, but it has started annoying me that EV-haters have all found themselves in an echo chamber stating that they are actually worse for the environment than an ICE vehicle.
I would guess that this is 100% true.
