Full Transcript
[00:00] (upbeat music)
[00:02] - [Nolan] Every time we do
[00:05] the same debate shows up in my comments.
[00:08] Some people argue that electric vehicles
[00:10] are worse for the environment
[00:12] than internal combustion engines.
[00:14] Others say that EVs are
[00:18] as internal combustion.
[00:20] I--
[00:20] I don't know.
[00:22] So, I set out to find
[00:25] are electric vehicles
[00:28] What I found genuinely surprised me.
[00:32] A big thanks to Keeps for sponsoring
[00:34] this episode of WheelHouse.
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[01:29] Support the companies that support Donut
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[01:32] In this video, we're gonna do our best
[01:34] to compare the environmental impact
[01:36] of electric vehicles
[01:39] And look, I'm gonna try to be as impartial
[01:42] and unbiased as possible
[01:44] because I am a car boy,
[01:46] I love gas cars
[01:47] and I love electric cars,
[01:49] and I have no agenda to push.
[01:50] I just wanna know what's true
[01:52] and what's false, okay?
[01:53] This could've easily
[01:55] because honestly,
[01:56] this is a lot more complicated
[01:58] But, I know you're busy,
[02:00] so we're just gonna look at some facts
[02:02] for both types of vehicles
[02:03] and try to draw a conclusion from that.
[02:05] First, let's take a look at some ways
[02:07] electric cars are bad for the environment.
[02:10] And let me tell you, there's a few.
[02:12] (upbeat music)
[02:14] One of the biggest arguments
[02:17] is that battery production for an EV
[02:19] is much more detrimental
[02:21] than the production of
[02:24] So, is that true?
[02:26] Uh... yes!
[02:27] The initial environmental footprint
[02:30] from current electric vehicle production
[02:32] is greater than production of
[02:37] The large batteries EVs
[02:40] which, like any raw
[02:42] and the mining process produces
[02:47] It's a problem that's only going to grow
[02:49] unless the manufacturing
[02:52] Sales of EVs topped one million per year
[02:55] for the first time in 2017.
[02:57] Some estimates predict
[03:00] there will be more than
[03:05] and those vehicles are
[03:07] Needless to say, lithium is in high demand
[03:10] and it all has to come from somewhere.
[03:12] It takes on average about
[03:16] to produce an electric vehicle.
[03:18] That's a lot.
[03:19] Obviously, the bigger the battery,
[03:20] the more CO2 it takes to produce it.
[03:23] Some smaller batteries in economy size EVs
[03:25] may take as few as two
[03:29] but larger EVs with long-rang batteries
[03:32] could be responsible
[03:33] for up to 17 metric tons of CO2 emissions.
[03:37] Good Lord.
[03:38] Conversely, the average production
[03:40] for an internal combustion vehicle
[03:41] produces around seven metric tons of CO2.
[03:44] Why does EV production
[03:46] lead to a bigger environmental footprint?
[03:51] More than half of the
[03:53] comes from the, quote, lithium triangle,
[03:56] an area between Chile, Bolivia
[03:57] and Argentina.
[03:58] In the arid salt-plains
[04:01] high up in the Andes Mountains,
[04:03] workers drill through
[04:05] to get to the mineral-rich
[04:09] This process leaches massive
[04:12] from the surrounding area,
[04:13] resulting in a decreased water supply
[04:15] and less accessible water
[04:18] In a region of Chile
[04:22] mining companies have used
[04:25] It takes 750 tons of brine to
[04:29] But lithium is just one of
[04:32] it's actually a smaller percentage
[04:34] at around six percent.
[04:36] A growing concern surrounds the sourcing
[04:38] of another element used
[04:41] But the issue is more
[04:43] as some cobalt mines use child labor,
[04:46] which is reprehensible.
[04:48] And then, there's the problem
[04:50] The process in which lithium
[04:53] is not at the point it needs to be
[04:55] to deal with the growing
[04:58] from electric vehicles.
[04:59] There are plenty of different challenges
[05:01] associated with recycling these batteries.
[05:04] Relatively inane things like
[05:07] because of the volatility of the elements
[05:09] in a lithium battery.
[05:10] There have already been a number of fires
[05:12] in facilities that process old batteries.
[05:15] Is the number of potentially
[05:17] and explosions gonna go up
[05:19] as more batteries are
[05:21] It all depends on how
[05:24] to deal with these issues.
[05:25] The fact of the matter is
[05:26] modern electric vehicle production
[05:28] is in its relative infancy
[05:31] so as time goes on
[05:33] and new processes come into play,
[05:35] the environmental impact will get better.
[05:37] I hope.
[05:38] The same can be said about
[05:40] get their electricity.
[05:41] Right now, many regions of the U.S.
[05:43] are still getting their
[05:46] so the impact of driving
[05:48] in those regions
[05:50] is more detrimental to the environment
[05:51] than driving an EV in
[05:55] such as wind, solar
[05:56] and hydroelectric power-plants.
[05:58] But, as those types of
[06:01] the efficiency at which an EV
[06:05] So now that we know the very real problems
[06:07] of electric vehicle production,
[06:09] how do they compare to the
[06:12] Let's start where we did
[06:14] production.
[06:17] Manufacturing the average
[06:20] produces seven metric tons of CO2.
[06:23] This number takes into account everything
[06:25] from the mining ore for steel
[06:27] to the moment the car rolls
[06:29] That number is lower than EVs
[06:31] because of the absence
[06:34] It also has to do with
[06:35] how efficient ICE
[06:38] We're talking about the industry
[06:39] that is responsible for
[06:42] After the car rolls out of the factory,
[06:44] greenhouse emissions from
[06:47] average around 5.2 metric tons per year,
[06:50] and that's if the car drives
[06:51] the national average of
[06:55] Over the lifespan of a car,
[06:56] it's responsible for
[06:59] that's seven for production
[07:01] and 50 in emissions.
[07:02] Gasoline, like lithium, has to be mined.
[07:05] The average car in the U.S.
[07:06] goes through about 500
[07:09] and that gas, like the
[07:12] has to come from somewhere.
[07:13] There's a lot of steps between
[07:17] to you filling your
[07:19] and each step has an environmental impact.
[07:22] Crude oil extraction starts
[07:25] either on land or on the ocean floor.
[07:28] After the crude oil is mined,
[07:30] it needs to be refined into gasoline
[07:32] and other petroleum
[07:35] petroleum jelly
[07:36] and plastic.
[07:37] This process releases
[07:40] including not only CO2 but methane
[07:42] and nitrous oxide as well.
[07:44] Every day around the world,
[07:45] close to 95 million
[07:48] and every day oil
[07:51] for emitting 767 millions tons of CO2
[07:55] into the atmosphere.
[07:56] Sure, the average car
[07:57] is responsible for 5.2
[08:00] but oil refineries release
[08:01] a whopping 280 billion metric tons of CO2
[08:06] in that same timeframe.
[08:07] (engine revs)
[08:08] (beep) chargers driving by, dude.
[08:11] All right, let's dial it back
[08:12] and get some more
[08:14] I'm sorry.
[08:15] We know that over the
[08:17] with an internal combustion engine,
[08:19] it will emit roughly
[08:22] Over the same time period,
[08:24] the average EV
[08:25] is responsible for 28
[08:28] less than half of that of an ICE engine.
[08:30] Despite the fact that electric vehicles
[08:32] make more CO2 during their production,
[08:34] they more than make up for it
[08:36] by not having any emissions during use.
[08:39] Taking into account the emissions
[08:41] produced by electric power-plants
[08:43] that electric vehicles
[08:45] the national average for an EV
[08:47] is around two metric tons per year.
[08:50] So that means the average EV
[08:53] than a gas-powered car between six months
[08:56] to two years of driving it.
[08:57] In fact, even the least
[09:01] with the dirtiest power source,
[09:03] like a coal power-plant,
[09:04] will be better for the environment
[09:06] than the most efficient gas engine
[09:09] after a certain period of time.
[09:10] Electric vehicles in states
[09:12] with access to cleaner electricity
[09:14] like windmills, solar
[09:15] and hydroelectric power-plants
[09:17] are significantly more efficient.
[09:19] Look, I cross-referenced
[09:21] and have no agenda to push,
[09:22] I just wanted to put that out there
[09:24] because, you know,
[09:25] it's kinda tiring seeing
[09:27] being regurgitated in the comments
[09:29] every time we make a video on EVs.
[09:31] Let's take a look at a few more myths.
[09:33] Myth number one:
[09:34] electric vehicle production
[09:35] and charging from coal-powered plants
[09:37] produces more emissions
[09:40] and operation.
[09:41] False.
[09:42] If you need a little more convincing,
[09:43] here's an amazing app that can calculate
[09:45] and compare the emissions of any gas car
[09:48] versus any electric car,
[09:49] and in the long run,
[09:50] any EV beats any gas car in efficiency.
[09:53] I'll put the link right here
[09:54] and in the description
[09:55] if you wanna check it out for yourself.
[09:56] Myth number two:
[09:57] our electric grid can't
[10:00] This one is also false.
[10:02] Even if a quarter of the cars on the road
[10:04] were electric tomorrow,
[10:05] the electric grids in the U.S.
[10:07] could handle all of them
[10:10] Myth number three:
[10:11] government subsidies for electric cars
[10:13] are unfair to poor people,
[10:14] they only benefit the rich.
[10:16] Now this is a pretty
[10:18] It's true that if you buy an electric car,
[10:20] you can get a federal
[10:24] That benefits everyone.
[10:25] But if you're rich enough to
[10:28] like a Tesla Model X,
[10:29] you'll actually only receive
[10:34] Yeah, kinda surprising, huh?
[10:35] Look, man, I love my gas-powered Mustang,
[10:38] I'm gonna own a gas-powered
[10:41] Nothing matches the sound of
[10:45] I'm gonna get that
[10:47] But I still have to acknowledge the truth.
[10:49] No matter how you spin it,
[10:51] electric vehicles have less
[10:54] than gas-powered cars.
[10:55] I'm not gonna say you're a bad
[10:57] 'cause you're not,
[10:58] I just wanna put the facts on the table.
[11:01] If this video helped you learn,
[11:02] I'm very happy for that,
[11:03] and I welcome you aboard.
[11:05] There doesn't need to be
[11:07] Hey, if you liked this video,
[11:08] hit that subscribe button down there
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[11:16] But we're having fun.
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[11:22] Be kind.
[11:23] Be kind!
[11:24] I'll see you next time.
[11:26] All right.
[11:27] (cup crashes)
[11:29] Ah Christ.
[11:29] I just spilled water everywhere.