The average American car or light duty truck stays on the road for upwards of 12 years, and that seems like a good thing from the point of sustainability. A large portion of emissions comes from manufacturing a new vehicle, whether gas or electric. So, in the realm of electric vehicle myths, is it cleaner to keep your gas car instead of purchasing a new electric vehicle?
The “12 year” data point, like a vintage beverage, belies certain trends. First, those who buy a new vehicle, freshly made from the factory, will trade it after their loan is paid off or the lease expires. So the manufacturing process begins anew. Meanwhile, their original vehicle gets sold in the secondary market, for the remaining 12 years. Even after that, the vehicle may get a “third life” in a third world country that has ample spare auto parts and less air quality regulation.
What to do today:
Still, the bottom line is that if you buy a vehicle that runs on gasoline today (called “ICE” for internal combustion engine) it’s likely to stay on the road through 2035. By then, assuming the legislation is not upended, California and nine other states have mandated that all new vehicles sold at dealerships must be electric (possibly hybrid).
But should a consumer with a sustainable frame-of-mind, decide that the car that they want to purchase is their “last and final” ICE, or should they switch to electric vehicles now? It’s actually not so hard a choice and addresses the electric vehicle myth: is it cleaner to keep your gasoline car?
Consumers reason that if they switch to a new battery powered electric vehicle, there is an uptick in emissions from manufacturing. EVS are said to produce more emissions during the manufacturing process. But there’s some uncertainty in this data because it’s based on older sources of battery production- primarily in China, which as different mining standards and more coal fueled plants. If the battery pack is made in the United States, as General Motors does with its Ultium series, EV manufacturing might on par with gasoline vehicles. The manufacturing data needs to be refreshed.
Polluting on the Go:
Once they get on the road- EVs rule, and that is significant if a vehicle is going to stay on the road for 12 years. When an EV charges, the emissions from the power plant are stationary. The carbon from a power plant can be sequestered and treated in one place. When the electrical plant is fueled by daytime solar, wind energy, or a battery backup- there are even less emissions. Gas cars, in contrast, burn fuel as they travel about, and their tailpipe emissions pollute the atmosphere wherever they go.
The most compelling reason to favor an electric vehicle today is that ICE cars, whether brand new, hybrid, or 12 years old – – perpetuate the infrastructure of gasoline and petroleum. This begins with drilling for reserve, exporting it from the ground, transporting it to refining centers, using energy to refine it, and ultimately transporting it again to gasoline stations. When carbon emissions are measured and totaled by environmentalists, it’s not clear that all of these steps have been accounted for, particularly the amount of electricity used to refine gasoline and pump to stations.
Safe and Bidirectional:
On a more personal note, older vehicles lack the safety features that keep a driver safer- as well as the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists. Few Western drivers would want to roll back standards before seat belts and airbags. Cars from the 1950’s through 1990’s seem shockingly unsafe. Today’s cars have lane departure control, assisted braking, and bigger, brighter headlights, partially because we are on the road to semi-autonomous vehicles. Even base-level model of new electrical vehicles incorporate these features.
Perhaps the greatest evolution, the head turning phase of electric-vehicles, is still unfolding. Today just a few vehicle models are capable of directional charging, and only a handful of electric utilities are testing the demand side feasibility to supply energy during periods of high need- say during a heat-wave. An easier alternative, also underway, is to send the kWh of energy to a home-storage battery, so that thecars and homes re-balance each other throughout the day.
Rapidly Changing:
Counterintuitively, the gasoline car sold today might stay on the road longer than an EV of the same age. This is the case even though battery arrays are proving to have a 100,000 mile plus lifespan. EVS in use today may get recycled sooner because rapid changes in their technology will make them obsolete. Fortunately, it’s different from recycling a lead acid, 12 volt battery. Because the minerals in battery packs are valuable, companies are growing in number that recycle and resell the materials. Like a gold necklace or valuable stone, these are the new gems- the mining process does not have to begin anew.
Very consumers have a vested interest in keeping 12 year old cars on the road, but some do- like the auto parts dealerships, repair shops, and those dependent on federal and state gasoline tax revenue. Car collectors might also lament, but the vast majority of older cars do not rate as vintage specimens. They are simply well-worn vessels that have served a time, polluted widely and timed-out on technology.