In Europe, the transport sector is the main cause of urban pollution. The electric car seems to represent a good solution to this public health problem. But to estimate its true ecological footprint, it is the whole of its life cycle that must be sifted through.
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Iat electric car is it really eco-friendly? The question may seem simple. But she is not. To hope to provide an answer, we must examine in detail the arguments of each other on this subject.
First observation: the electric car has no exhaust pipe. It is therefore technically unable toemit CO2. The electric car is therefore an ecological car. A green car: CQFD! Except that the electric car, by definition, runs on electricity. And to produce electricity, we sometimes use fuels fossil fuels, as is the case in China, which still produces nearly 70% of its electricity in coal-fired power stations that emit high levels of greenhouse gases. Note, however, that in 2017 the country accounted for almost half of the world’s sales of new electric cars.
Most of the time therefore, even if it is in a masked and diverted way, the electric car does indeed emit CO2 when she rides. In France, electricity production is carbon-free but relies heavily on nuclear center and therefore generates dangerous wastethe generic term forecological (remember that it relates to everything that respects the environment), is perhaps not the most appropriate either.
All these reservations being made, German researchers have recently estimated that in Europe, the electric car still competes today – in terms ofemissions of CO2/km — with the most efficient thermal car on the market. And the advantage of the electric car keeps increasing. With age, because the emission control systems fitted to internal combustion cars tend to age badly. Also over the years: the share of renewable energies in the electricity mix is increasing, making electricity production less and less CO2-emitting2.
A battery that weighs down the ecological balance sheet
So much for the rolling phase of the life of a car electric. But there is a “before”. And also, an “after”.
Let us not forget that, in order to assess the true ecological footprint of the electric car, it is necessary to take an interest in its life cycle as a whole. In the matterthe lithium ion batteries boarded in these reputedly green vehicles seem to cost the environment dearly. First because the metals few that make it up are extracted in countries that still pay too little attention to our environmental and societal considerations. Then, because lithium-ion batteries are now mainly produced in countries with less than virtuous energy mixes.
Finally, because the recycling of these batteries still raises questions. Even if it seems technically feasible, it remains economically unattractive. At least as long as the number of batteries concerned is relatively small. But, in the years to come, with the boom in the market, the recycling should of course organize itself.
In the meantime, manufacturers are also working to offer a second life to these batteries. Once their performance has fallen below the acceptable threshold for theautomotivethey can indeed still serve as a stationary storage solution for renewable energies. This is already the case in Amsterdam (Netherlands), at the Johan Cruyff ArenA stadium where several dozen Nissan Leaf batteries have been converted into an emergency electricity storage system powered by solar panels. A way, certainly, to make electric cars more ecological.
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