HOW GREEN ARE ELECTRIC CARS REALLY?

With the popularity of electric vehicles growing by the day, we take a closer look at their overall impact on the environment to see if they're actually any better than cars that run on fossil fuels

- George Hill

THERE'S A COMMON perception that electric vehicles (EVS) are kinder to the environment than regular petrol and diesel cars because they don't run on fossil fuels and don't put out any CO₂-the rising level of which is the biggest contributor to climate change. On a local level, they can take some credit for improving air quality, especially in big cities, and the subsequent reduction in harmful particulates and fumes in the atmosphere can have health benefits for all of us. In addition, because they're quieter than most conventionally powered vehicles, they're able to help reduce noise pollution, making any urban environment a nicer place to be.

But how green are EVs in reality? There's an ongoing debate over their long-term sustainability, especially with regard to the production process and what happens to batteries at the end of their usable life. These are grey areas because EVs are still comparatively new to our roads; the first mass-produced EV to be sold in the UK, the Nissan Leaf, has been around only since 2011.

So, here we're going to look at the environmental impact of an EV throughout its life, while also comparing it with a combustion-engined equivalent.

HOW ECO-FRIENDLY IS THE PRODUCTION PROCESS OF AN EV?

Nearly all EVs use lithium-ion batteries to store energy. A lithium-ion NCA (nickel cobalt aluminum oxide) battery is one of the best performing variants, and as its name suggests, it's made of up of several rare earth materials all of which require mining and extracting.

These materials are often sourced from different countries, and this can result in emissions from the supply chain. What's more, some of these rare earth materials are finite in other words, non-renewable.