The thought of owning an electric car is exciting for many green technology adopters, although their price is still pretty high. The idea behind EVs is that they don’t emit carbon dioxide or any other gases from their tailpipes.
But because free meals don’t exist, some Swiss researchers say the opposite – some diesels may be cleaner than electric cars currently under development.
European cars often get a fuel economy of about 42 mpg, with some newer models even getting 60 mpg or more. The technology adopted for electric cars, on the other hand, uses mainly lithium ion batteries, made of metals extracted from mountains by using complex chemical processes that not only generate CO2, but also pollute the environment and help to deforestation.
The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology (EMPA), released a study that pushes conclusions about the impact of lithium ion batteries used in battery-electric vehicles.
They said that an electric car using the currently-existing battery technologies would have an independence from the grid of approximately 125 miles and two sets of batteries would be needed to suffice a car’s lifetime of around 150,000 miles.
Although battery technology gets cheaper because of the still low demand, the industry that makes them will be prosperous once EVs will become mainstream. Of course, over-the-clock research is on its way around the world, and batteries won’t stay the same forever, so these allegations are only partially justified.
Moreover, used EV batteries could be recycled and put back into use, or implemented in vehicle-to-grid type applications, where they would be good enough to store the extra energy generated during the day by solar panels or by wind turbines during windy periods.
Also, the use of a centralized battery-swapping program could reduce the impact these batteries would have on the environment after their first cycle, through ensured corporate responsibility programs these companies would have.
