Due to the wealth of studies, you can always find a contrarian one, and whenever any happens, anti-#EV news articles spread like wildfire. A typical debunking of one:

https://twitter.com/aukehoekstra/status/1559237660866224129

A rather "typical" modern paper on #BEV lifecycle #emissions by contrast will come up with a result like the below:

https://theicct.org/publication/a-global-comparison-of-the-life-cycle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-of-combustion-engine-and-electric-passenger-cars/

For more up-to-date numbers, we can turn to manufacturers themselves. Here's #Tesla's 2021 #environment impact report (graphics below)

https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2021-tesla-impact-report.pdf

Note that this being the 2021 report, it's nearly a year old, and the data was already out of date by the time *they* published it.

The short of it is that an #EV purchased today, depending on where it is, will have roughly 1/3rd the lifecycle emissions of an #ICE vehicle.

But why?

1) The vast majority of a #vehicle's environmental impact is in its *operation*. A #car is made once, and most of it #recycled at end-of-life, but every year for two decades on average it burns *its entire weight* in fuel. Up into smoke, up into our breathing air, no recovery.

2) Only about half the grid is fossil fuels. And of those fossil fuels, #NaturalGas (cleaner than #oil) is the ever-more dominant fraction. And #renewables dominate new.

(Graphics as per before)

4) #Pollution is not just about the "what", but also the "where". While #CO2 lasts for centuries, most pollutants have short lifespans - hours to weeks; if it has to circle the globe before it's breathed, it's not going to exist anymore. #Power plants not only have centralized #scrubbers, but also emit #pollutants at altitude in remote areas, instead of ground level in #cities.

A confluence of factors leads to #EV #emissions being *much* lower.

And to head anyone off: There is nothing any more magical about #mining for batteries than mining for any other part of any other #car. #Platinum for catalytic converters isn't flown into this earth by pixies. #Lead doesn't show up at factories on the back of a unicorn. Countless steel alloying agents, many of which are themselves #battery minerals, are not summoned from the ether. As if even making *steel itself* is a clean process?

(Photos, in order: platinum, lead, chromium, steel)

A #LFP #battery is a #steel can containing primarily (A) #graphite (synthetic or natural), and (B) #iron #phosphate (which is basically fertilizer). The next largest component is #electrolyte, primarily organic carbonates (a #petrochemical #solvent - on the lower toxicity end as far as solvents go). Next most common are the metal foils (#alumium and #copper). Next is the (#plastic) separator membrane.

In tiny quantities at the bottom of the list? Electrolyte additives and the #lithium itself.

This tiny amount of (not rare) #lithium is primarily produced from either sun-dried brine or high-grade low-toxicity ore (#spodumene), primarily one mine in #Australia (Greenbushes) - though #Nevada clays are an emerging resource, and there's an inexhaustible supply in seawater.

1) Lithium (non-potable) brine is pumped to the surface, sun-dried to concentrate lithium, hauled off to elsewhere to refine for Li and other useful minerals, and the left-over salt returns to brine when it rains next.

2. #Spodumene, mined from high ore-grade low-toxicity igneous rock - the largest portion coming from a single #Australian mine (Greenbushes)

3. #Nevada lithium clays, an emerging resource.

None of this, however - ICE or EV components - even remotely compares to the impacts of oil. This graph below will put it into perspective.

Wait, where's #oil? The short of it is "it doesn't fit on the graph". Over 13 BILLION tonnes produced in 2019. Of easily-leakable, #neurotoxic, #carcinogenic liquid, primarily produced to burn into exhaust that also contains neurotoxic and carcinogenic components. If you care about the environment and health, *THAT* is the enemy.

(End of thread)