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An electric vehicle is a vehicle that uses electricity to move. Its wheels are driven by electric motors.

Electric vehicles were one of the first kinds that did not use horse or human power. Electric trains and cars were built in the 1830's, and in the early 1900's there were more electric cars than gasoline-powered cars. But cars powered by gasoline or diesel fuel become the most common kind of car for most of the last 100 years.

Electric vehicles have long been used in some special cases, such as forklifts used inside a building, golf carts, trolley bus or certain vehicles used around airplanes at an airport. Early in the 21st century people are using more electric and hybrid vehicles again as a way to reduce pollution and use less gasoline.

It is unclear who the first inventor was, but Ányos Jedlik of Hungary built a small model of a working electric car in 1828. In the 1830's Robert Anderson of Scotland, Professor Stratingh of Holland and Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith from Vermont all built electric vehicles. Davenport is said to be the inventor of the DC electric motor. In 1865, Gaston Plante of France made a better battery. In 1886, the inventor Frank Sprague of Connecticut made important changes to the electric motor.

Great Britain and France were early leaders in making better electric cars. Interest in the electric car in the United States grew after 1891 when A. L. Ryker built a three-wheeled electric car, and William Morrison built a six-passenger wagon.

The years 1899 and 1900 were the best years for electric cars in America, as they outsold all other types of cars ( steam, gasoline and diesel). One example was the 1902 Phaeton built by the Woods Motor Vehicle Company of Chicago, which had a range of 18 miles, a top speed of 14 mph and cost $2,000. (At that time, there were few good roads between towns, so most driving was for short distances). Electric cars could go as far as steam-powered cars and did not take 30 to 40 minutes to get started. Gasoline engines were smelly and noisy.

But then the internal combustion engine (that used gasoline and diesel) were greatly improved, and cars that used those engines could go much farther and faster than other cars.

Some people would make electric cars in their garages by taking out the engine and putting in an electric motor and batteries, but for a long time, no big car company made an electric car. Only in the late 1990's did big car companies start making electric cars again. The most famous was the GM's EV-1. Now interest in alternative fuel vehicles is growing.

Kinds of electric vehicles

Pure electric cars

These types of cars do not have any kind of internal combustion engine, but are driven entirely using electric motors, which gets its power in different ways other than an engine.

A fuel cell makes electricity from hydrogen. Hydrogen is very common, but hard to store. It can be made from water, but is usually made from natural gas. These cars are very rare, because there are not many places where one can fill up with hydrogen, and so not many are made. One of the few companies who makes fuel cell cars is Toyota, which has the Mirai.

A solar cell stores energy from the sun as electricity to make the car go. But the sunlight that lands on a solar car is not enough to make a full sized car move very fast, and cannot work at night unless it stores energy somewhere. There is a competition every year to see who can make a car that goes the farthest on only solar power.

A battery-electric vehicle (BEV) stores electrical energy in a big battery inside the car. The batteries get their energy from an electric supply outside the car, usually a electrical outlet like those in a house. It is the most common kind of electric car seen today. Many governments around the world are encouraging public places to install charging stations, which have a plug that can charge most types of plug-in cars. Companies that make BEVs include Nissan, which has the Leaf, and Mitsubishi Motors, which makes the i-miEV. An American company called Tesla is famous for making BEVs that charge very quickly, such as the Roadster (a sports car) and more recently the Model S.

Hybrid cars

A hybrid is a combination of two things. In this case, it is an electric motor, and another type of power, such as an engine. Because of this, hybrid vehicles are not true electric vehicles.

A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) has both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor which drives the wheels. Usually, the electric motor is used when moving at low speeds and power from the internal combustion engine is used as the car goes faster. The engine get its power from gasoline, diesel, or any other kind of fuel, and can generate electricity which is stored in batteries to be used later with the electric motor. The battery is much smaller than that of a pure electric vehicle and even though the vehicle can go without starting the gas engine, it cannot go very far before the battery runs out of energy and the gas engine has to be started. The Toyota Prius is the best-selling HEV of all time, but many other companies around the world like Honda (with the Clarity), BMW (with the i3), and Ford (with the Focus) also make hybrid cars, some of which, such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Camry, come in both gas-only and hybrid versions. The hybrid version is usually more expensive because it has more parts.

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is like an ordinary hybrid electric vehicle in that it has both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. The difference is that a PHEV has a bigger battery that can be charged using a plug from an outlet, just like a battery-electric vehicle. This allows the car to go farther on electric power alone than a HEV before the gas engine has to be used. However, the battery is still quite small, meaning a PHEV most often does not go as far as a BEV on electric power alone. The Chevrolet Volt from General Motors and the Sonata by Hyundai are just two examples of plug-in hybrids, and Toyota also makes a plug-in version of its Prius, as does Honda with its Clarity.

A human electric hybrid vehicle (HEHV), in its simplest form, is a battery and motor put on a bicycle. The Twike is a covered vehicle that can hold two people. It can be pedaled, run from the battery, or both.

Other vehicles

There are many other types of electric vehicles. A trolley bus (also called a trackless trolley) uses overhead electric lines to power it. Many trains use a railway electrification system to supply power. A few high-speed rail lines use powered magnets in the track to move the train, in a system called ' mag-lev' (magnetic levitation). There are electric bicycles and motorcycles and some tricycles (trikes) like the Corbin Motors Sparrow, which was also seen in the Austin Powers movie Goldmember.

Most freight trains are diesel-electric. The locomotive has a diesel engine which provides electricity, and an electric motor which makes the wheels turn. In recent years, however, there are buses and trains that store their power in a battery or use some other source like fuel cells. These kinds of vehicles do not need wires.

Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages:
These vehicles use an electric motor, so they are very quiet, no smell and no pollution from exhaust gases that is why UK is considering stop sale of diesel, petrol and hybrid vehicles by 2035. They can even be used indoors, in tunnels and mines. Oil for gasoline and diesel is a limited resource - it will not last forever and is becoming more expensive. If the electricity for a battery-electric vehicle comes from a renewable energy source, like a windmill, solar cells, geothermal or hydroelectric, then it will not produce as many global warming gases.
Disadvantages:
Batteries do not store a lot of energy, and they are large and heavy, so the vehicles usually cannot go very far. It takes a long time to recharge a battery, sometimes many hours. Good batteries can be very expensive, and all batteries need to be replaced after a while. Most electricity in the United States comes from coal or natural gas, so an electric vehicle that is powered by electricity from one of these plants will still add to global warming gases.

Modern Vehicles

More electric cars are being made every year. Here are a few:

Tesla Roadster (a sports car, only sold for a short time, then replaced by the Model S)

Tesla Model S

Ford Focus Electric

Images for kids

In Spanish: Vehículo eléctrico para niños

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A brief introduction to climate change and transportation

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A brief introduction to climate change and transportation

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Mobility clearly is essential to economic growth, but in our carbon-based world moving people from place to place exacts a steep price.

Consider just the United States. In 2017, the transportation sector accounted for 29% of the nation's total emissions of 6.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e (the CO2 equivalent of an individual greenhouse gas).

Driven largely by the transportation sector's emissions of fossil fuels, concentrations of CO2 have risen steadily since the early 1980s, except for the period beginning with the start of the last recession in late 2007, according the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Annual CO2 emissions from transportation had reached more than two billion metric tons in 2007 - the highest level since the EIA began keeping records in 1973. By 2012, about four years into the recession, emissions had fallen to about 1.8 billion metric tons. But with the economic recovery, emissions began to rise again. By 2018, transportation emissions totaled 1.9 billion metric tons for the year - just under the 2012 peak.

Despite the rise of electric car manufacturers, new public transit projects in cities across the nation, more fuel efficient aircraft engines, and other innovations in mobility, it's clear that economics is the main driver of carbon emissions from transportation. When the economy is growing they go up; when it's contracting they go down.

Globally, the picture is similar, and in its most recent report on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2014 offered a stark forecast: By 2050, global emissions of greenhouse gases from transportation could grow to about 12 billion tons of CO2e annually - unless there are aggressive and sustained changes in how humans get around. Globally, the transportation sector in 2010 - as reported then by IPCC - was responsible for about 23 percent of total energy-related CO2 emissions worldwide.

Transportation and the carbon emissions it creates make for a big and unwieldy topic. But reviewing a few key areas can help improve understanding of some of the challenges ahead.

The impact of driving

Many Americans love to drive and love their cars - or at least the notion of car ownership. In 2018, there were 281.3 million vehicles registered in the U.S., according to Hedges & Company, an automotive marketing and research agency based in Hudson, Ohio. Americans collectively drove more than three trillion miles in 2017, the most of any year since record keeping began in 1980, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Emissions from light-duty vehicles in the U.S., such as cars and pickup trucks, came to nearly 1.1 billion metric tons of CO2e - about 17% of all carbon emissions in the country.

How can we collectively reconcile a need to reduce carbon pollution with peoples' widespread fondness for driving? #CoveringClimateNow Click To Tweet

How can we collectively reconcile a need to reduce carbon pollution with peoples' widespread fondness for driving, often with just a driver, no passengers, even in congested urban areas? The New York Times in August ran a short but provocative piece that suggested people can make big changes in carbon emissions with fairly little effort - simply by driving just 10% less, or about 1,350 fewer miles each year. That achievement could cut total annual CO2 emissions in the U.S. by 110 million metric tons. That's the same as shutting down about 28 coal-fired power plants for a year.

Driving less can make a big dent in carbon emissions, but the rise in electric vehicles also has the potential to make an impact in coming decades (if, that is, the electricity used is produced by zero-carbon or low-carbon sources of energy). As of 2018, more than one million electric vehicles were traversing American roads, and the market appears to be growing rapidly, according to a briefing from Consumer Reports. There are now more than 40 types of electric vehicles on U.S. roads, up from three in 2010. Luxury brands such as Jaguar, Mercedes, and Audi are planning to introduce electric car models to compete with Tesla, and more affordable options by Kia, Hyundai, and Nissan are now available.

Meanwhile, carsharing is gaining traction in some cities. Carsharing services such as Zipcar and car2gov are offering city dwellers easy solutions for quick trips. Other companies are populating city streets with fleets of electric scooters - although they're clearly not well-suited for everyone. And carsharing hasn't uniformly led to lower overall emissions, especially when the vehicles shared are powered by fossil fuels.

One development to keep an eye on is the Trump administration's efforts to roll back fuel efficiency standards, and an apparent revolt against such deregulation by Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, and Honda. Those four automakers, representing 30% of new car sales in the U.S., have aligned with California's progressive policies on fuel efficiency. Their effort is certain to face legal challenges from the Trump administration's Justice Department, but the automakers' pact with California, if it proceeds and succeeds, would set the goal of reaching an average fuel economy of 50 mpg by 2025.

Adding to growing uncertainties for automakers and their customers is the Trump administration's mid-September 2019 effort to revoke California's authority under the 1970 Clean Air Act to set motor vehicle emission standards more stringent than the overall federal standards. That provision over nearly five decades has been a critical feature of U.S. motor vehicle emission standards in and well beyond California, as more than a dozen other states have opted for the tougher California standards. While the Trump revocation initiative is certain to be challenged, with the eventual outcome perhaps not decided for a year or more, uncertainty about the future of auto emission standards is the only certainty.

The hidden costs of play - and of work

Along with daily driving, there is a steep cost to air travel - whether for work or play. Demand for jet fuel in the U.S. increased in 2018 - just one sign that air travel is a growth sector for sources of carbon emissions. Globally, airlines carried 4.3 billion passengers in 2018, contributing about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, global emissions from passenger air travel globally are projected to increase by 300-700%, according to the European Commission.

A small but perhaps growing movement to cut back on air travel is taking hold in Europe and North America, and young climate activists such as Greta Thunberg from Sweden are helping to raise awareness of the health and ecological risks posed by climate change and of the contributions of the aviation industry. There's even been a new term added to the climate change lexicon: flight shaming.

In June, Andy Newman of The New York Times wrote of the irony of people who are eager to visit places that are at risk of disappearing because of climate change - thereby hastening the demise of those places by flying there. In his piece, Newman cites a sobering statistic: 32 square feet of Arctic summer sea ice melts for every airline passenger who flies 2,500 miles.

Cruise travel, meanwhile, poses its own threats to the globe's climate. The most efficient cruise ships emit three to four times more carbon emissions per passenger than commercial air travel.

Beyond vacation travel and tourism, another big source of carbon emissions from air travel is business trips. In 2018, U.S. travelers took 463.6 million business trips, and that number is forecast to rise to 493.7 million by 2022, according to Statista, a provider of market and consumer data. As businesses become more conscious of their impacts on the environment, and their bottom line, virtual business meeting platforms such as BlueJeans have become an alternative to air travel.

Academia, another source of air travel emissions, has also begun to grapple with its impact on climate change. There's a worry among some, at least, that all those climate change meetings might be making climate change worse. One of the largest annual meetings for climate scientists in the U.S. - the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, routinely attracting more than 23,000 visitors from across the world - is among those beginning to grapple with just that issue.
More to read on transportation and climate change:
Current U.S. EPA page on transportation and climate change
Fast Facts: U.S. transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions 1990-2017
WHO web page on the climate impacts of transport

IPCC AR5 chapter 8 on global emissions from transport (2014)

Transportation Research Board, The National Academies (2012): Climate change and transportation

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, May 2019: Why the transport sector needs to adapt to climate change

Transportation is the biggest source of CO2 in the U.S., Climate Central, Nov. 2017

IEA meeting, 2016: Life in the fast lane: evolving paradigms for mobility and transportation systems of the future

How your flight emits as much CO2 as many people do in a year, The Guardian, July 19, 2019

Cruise ship pollution is causing serious health and environmental problems, Forbes, April 26, 2019

Cargo ships are emitting boatloads of carbon, and nobody wants to take the blame, PhysOrg, Dec. 26, 2018
Editor's note: This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. (Minor edit made to article on 10/7/19.)

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A brief introduction to climate change and transportation " Yale Climate Connections

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Mobility clearly is essential to economic growth, but in our carbon-based world moving people from place to place exacts a steep price. Consider just the United States. In 2017, the transportation sector accounted for 29% of the nation's total emissions of 6.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e (the CO2 equivalent of an individual greenhouse gas).

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Are Electric Cars Really More Environmentally Friendly?

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Are Electric Cars Really More Environmentally Friendly?

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There are exciting innovations in electric cars coming out seemingly everyday. Batteries are becoming more efficient and even charging faster! Check out this car battery that charges in just five minutes! Still curious about electric cars and how they compare to gas powered cars? Watch the short helpful video that compares the two side by side.

Reduced carbon emissions aren't the only benefit to electric cars. Electric cars emit less pollution and is therefore much better for everyone's health. Read up here on the negative effects of car pollution on the immediate environment. Another benefit that often goes overlooked is less noise pollution. Compared to gas powered cars, electric cars are virtually silent.

More than just cars are being electrified! Electric school buses are starting to become more affordable and widespread. Big trucks used for shipping will, too, become electric. It's just a matter of time. Read up here to find out about the obstacles and ways to overcome those challenges.

Take a tour of the Rivian facilities. Rivian is an electric car company built for adventure.

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Are Electric Cars Really More Environmentally Friendly?

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There are exciting innovations in electric cars coming out seemingly everyday. Batteries are becoming more efficient and even charging faster! Check out this car battery that charges in just five minutes! Still curious about electric cars and how they compare to gas powered cars? Watch the short helpful video that compares the two side by side.

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Curious about what you can do about air quality? Learn about teen scientist Naomi Shah and how she turned her research into action. Check out the work 18 year old Dianne Espinoza accomplished in a polluted neighborhood in Los Angeles. Looking for fun activities to explore air quality, pollution and how it relates to you and your home? Check out these resources at Next.cc.

Air pollution is a global issue; therefore, it is important to have some metrics and standards to help governments and scientists to know how bad the pollution is and by how much. More detailed measurements of the air also help identify the major pollutants, which can then tell us something about which sources need to be under better control. By having a standard metric, countries can also tell if their pollution regulations are actually working. The air quality index (AQI), usually reported by region or city, is used let the public know how polluted the air is and will be.

Each country has its own way of calculating an AQI, but generally, most are based on some combination of ozone (O ₃), particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NO x), sulfur dioxide (SO ₂), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Not every country, or city, has enough air quality monitoring stations to measure the air quality equally across all neighborhoods. This is really clear when we look at this map showing the real-time air quality for more than 10,000 stations in the world, which also shows which countries are monitored more than others.

Tropospheric Ozone Chemistry
The main ingredient needed to form ozone in the troposphere, where we live, is sunlight, on top of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, or in this case, NO x (sum of NO and NO ₂). However, the balance between all these ingredients is not a simple relationship. Having [X] amounts of hydrocarbons and [Y] amounts of NO x doesn't automatically mean that [X+Y] amounts of O ₃ will be formed. There are limits to how much a compound can influence a reaction because there could be so much of that compound it no longer matters how much more is there. Therefore, in this complex system, there are situations in which less NO x in the system will actually lead to more O ₃. This was observed in big cities like Rome, where the stay-at-home orders during the Covid pandemic suddenly reduced the amount of traffic pollution (NO x) whichcaused an increase in the amount of O ₃ in the atmosphere. Understanding this complicated relationship is important when policy makers try to make regulations that help reduce O ₃ pollution.

There are many interconnected factors that drive complex chemistry in the atmosphere. Check out this Ted-Ed Lesson to learn more about the science of smog.

Lesson materials compiled and edited by Cheney Munson.

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Take a deep breath. In a single intake of air, your lungs swell with roughly 25 sextillion molecules, ranging from days-old compounds, to those formed billions of years in the past. In fact, many of the molecules you're breathing were likely exhaled by members of ancient civilizations and innumerable humans since.

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Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced

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Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced

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Guardian | 2021

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Batteries capable of fully charging in five minutes have been produced in a factory for the first time, marking a significant step towards electric cars becoming as fast to charge as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles.

Electric vehicles are a vital part of action to tackle the climate crisis but running out of charge during a journey is a worry for drivers. The new lithium-ion batteries were developed by the Israeli company StoreDot and manufactured by Eve Energy in China on standard production lines.

StoreDot has already demonstrated its "extreme fast-charging" battery in phones, drones and scooters and the 1,000 batteries it has now produced are to showcase its technology to carmakers and other companies. Daimler, BP, Samsung and TDK have all invested in StoreDot, which has raised $130m to date and was named a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneer in 2020.

The batteries can be fully charged in five minutes but this would require much higher-powered chargers than used today. Using available charging infrastructure, StoreDot is aiming to deliver 100 miles of charge to a car battery in five minutes in 2025.

"The number one barrier to the adoption of electric vehicles is no longer cost, it is range anxiety," said Doron Myersdorf, CEO of StoreDot. "You're either afraid that you're going to get stuck on the highway or you're going to need to sit in a charging station for two hours. But if the experience of the driver is exactly like fuelling [a petrol car], this whole anxiety goes away."

"A five-minute charging lithium-ion battery was considered to be impossible," he said. "But we are not releasing a lab prototype, we are releasing engineering samples from a mass production line. This demonstrates it is feasible and it's commercially ready."

Existing Li-ion batteries use graphite as one electrode, into which the lithium ions are pushed to store charge. But when these are rapidly charged, the ions get congested and can turn into metal and short circuit the battery.

The StoreDot battery replaces graphite with semiconductor nanoparticles into which ions can pass more quickly and easily. These nanoparticles are currently based on germanium, which is water soluble and easier to handle in manufacturing. But StoreDot's plan is to use silicon, which is much cheaper, and it expects these prototypes later this year. Myersdorf said the cost would be the same as existing Li-ion batteries.

"The bottleneck to extra-fast charging is no longer the battery," he said. Now the charging stations and grids that supply them need to be upgraded, he said, which is why they are working with BP. "BP has 18,200 forecourts and they understand that, 10 years from now, all these stations will be obsolete, if they don't repurpose them for charging - batteries are the new oil."

Dozens of companies around the world are developing fast-charging batteries, with Tesla, Enevate and Sila Nanotechnologies all working on silicon electrodes. Others are looking at different compounds, such as Echion which uses niobium oxide microparticles.

Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted on Monday: "Battery cell production is the fundamental rate-limiter slowing down a sustainable energy future. Very important problem."

"I think such fast-charging batteries will be available to the mass market in three years," said Prof Chao-Yang Wang, at the Battery and Energy Storage Technology Center at Pennsylvania State University in the US. "They will not be more expensive; in fact, they allow automakers to downsize the onboard battery while still eliminating range anxiety, thereby dramatically cutting down the vehicle battery cost."

Research by Wang's group is being developed by the company EC Power, which he founded. It carefully increases the temperature of the battery to 60C, which enables the lithium ions to move faster, but avoids the damage to the battery usually caused by heat. He said this allowed a full charge in 10 minutes.

Wang said new research published in Nature Energy on Monday showed this battery could be both affordable and eliminate range anxiety. "Finally we are achieving parity with gasoline vehicles in both cost and convenience. We have the technology for $25,000 electric cars that race like luxury sport cars, have 10-minute rechargeability and are safer than any currently on the market."

Wang noted that fast charging must also be repeatable at least 500 times without degrading the battery to give it a reasonable life and that the EC power battery can do so 2,500 times. Myersdorf said the StoreDot battery could be recharged 1,000 cycles while retaining 80% of original capacity.

Anna Tomaszewska, at Imperial College London, UK, who reviewed the fast-charging batteries in 2019, was more cautious about the speed of their rollout. "I think technologies [like StoreDot's] could start entering the market in the next five years or so. However, since they will be more difficult and expensive to manufacture, we're likely to initially only see them in niche markets that are highly performance-driven and not as price-sensitive as electric vehicles," she said.

This article was amended on 4 February 2021. Echion uses niobium oxide microparticles, not niobium oxide nanoparticles as an earlier version said.

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Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced

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Batteries capable of fully charging in five minutes have been produced in a factory for the first time, marking a significant step towards electric cars becoming as fast to charge as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles. Electric vehicles are a vital part of action to tackle the climate crisis but running out of charge during a journey is a worry for drivers.

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Our personal vehicles are a major cause of global warming. Collectively, cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth of all US emissions, emitting around 24 pounds of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases for every gallon of gas. About five pounds comes from the extraction, production, and delivery of the fuel, while the great bulk of heat-trapping emissions-more than 19 pounds per gallon-comes right out of a car's tailpipe.

In total, the US transportation sector-which includes cars, trucks, planes, trains, ships, and freight-produces nearly thirty percent of all US global warming emissions, more than almost any other sector.

Unfortunately, oil-related emissions may rise in the coming years as the oil industry extracts and refines "unconventional" oils, such as tar sands and tight oil. Using less oil-and avoiding unnecessary emission from the oil we do use-is the real solution.

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Our personal vehicles are a major cause of global warming. Collectively, cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth of all US emissions, emitting around 24 pounds of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases for every gallon of gas.

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Transportation and Climate Change

Burning fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The buildup of carbon dioxide (CO ₂) and other greenhouse gases like methane (CH ₄), nitrous oxide (N ₂ O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is causing the Earth's atmosphere to warm, resulting in changes to the climate we are already starting to see today.

​Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation account for about 28 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest contributor of U.S. GHG emissions. Between 1990 and 2018, GHG emissions in the transportation sector increased more in absolute terms than any other sector.

EPA Programs to Reduce Carbon Pollution from Transportation

EPA is addressing climate change by taking the following actions to reduce GHG emissions from the transportation sector. Many of these programs have benefits beyond cutting carbon. For example, decreasing fuel consumption can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and save consumers money at the pump.

Setting GHG Emissions Standards for Cars and Trucks

EPA and DOT issued a joint rule-making that set GHG emissions and fuel economy standards for the largest sources of greenhouse gases from transportation, including cars, light trucks, and heavy-duty trucks.

Light-duty GHG regulations for passenger vehicles and trucks are projected to:

Cut 6 billion metric tons of GHG emissions over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in model years 2012-2025 and allowing manufacturers flexibility in meeting the standards;

Nearly double the fuel efficiency while protecting consumer choice; and

Reduce America's dependence on oil and provide significant savings for consumers at the pump.

Heavy-duty GHG regulations are projected to:

Reduce CO₂ emissions by about 270 million metric tons over the life of vehicles built under the program, saving about 530 million barrels of oil; and

The proposed "Phase 2" program includes standards that would further reduce GHG emissions and improve the fuel efficiency of medium and heavy-duty trucks.

Increasing the Use of Renewable Fuels

Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard program in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand the nation's renewable fuels sector while reducing reliance on imported oil. Renewable fuels are produced from plants, crops and other biomass, and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions when compared to burning the fossil fuels they replace.

Taking First Steps to Set a Greenhouse Gas Standards for Aircraft

EPA along with the Federal Aviation Agency at the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization have developed international carbon dioxide emissions standards for aircraft. EPA is also now working through the process of potentially setting domestic regulations under the Clean Air Act that address GHG emissions from certain classes of engines used in aircraft.

Greening the Federal Fleet

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act requires federal agencies to only acquire cars, light trucks, or medium-duty passenger vehicles that are low greenhouse gas emitting. Each year, EPA evaluates the greenhouse gas emissions performance of the fleet to determine which vehicles in each class emit less harmful greenhouse gases. The law requires federal agencies to purchase these high performing vehicles. Over time this will result in a greener federal fleet.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Moving Goods

SmartWay helps the freight transportation sector improve supply chain efficiency, reducing greenhouse gases and saving fuel costs for companies who participate. Through SmartWay, EPA and its partners are making significant gains in the efficiency of how our nation moves goods, helping address air quality challenges, improving public health and reducing freight's contribution to climate change.

Informing Consumers Information on Fuel Economy and Advanced Technology Cars

Since the mid-1970s EPA has required automakers to display a label on new cars and light trucks with information on vehicles' fuel economy and fuel costs. Labels on today's cars also include ratings on greenhouse gas and smog-forming pollutants. EPA provides online resources, such as the Green Vehicle Guide and the joint EPA-DOE website fueleconomy.gov, to help consumers identify vehicles that can save them money at the pump and reduce their transportation-related emissions.

EPA's SmartWay light duty program goes further and identifies the top performing vehicles in terms of fuel economy and emissions to assist consumers in making an environmentally friendly purchase.

Green Racing

Green Racing uses motorsports competition to promote the rapid development of cleaner, fuel efficient vehicles technologies that can be used in consumer vehicles. Green Racing is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, and its activities are guided by SAE Green Racing Protocols. Green Racing challenges the racing industry to use alternative technologies and clean fuels to gain the highest performance with the lowest environmental impact. The transfer of these innovations " From the Raceway to the Driveway" is the primary objective of Green Racing.

State and Local Transportation Resources Center

For information on emission reduction strategies, national policies and regulations, incentive-based and voluntary programs, funding sources, calculators, transportation conformity, and other types of assistance to help states and local areas achieve their air quality and transportation objectives.

The Road Ahead

While transportation continues to contribute a large percentage of U.S. emissions, there are many opportunities for the sector to deliver greenhouse gas reductions. Low-carbon fuels, new and improved vehicle technologies, strategies to reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled, and operating vehicles more efficiently are all approaches to reducing greenhouse gases from transportation.

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Carbon Pollution from Transportation | US EPA

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Burning fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The buildup of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and other greenhouse gases like methane (CH 4), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is causing the Earth's atmosphere to warm, resulting in changes to the climate we are already starting to see today.

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The U.S. transportation sector is responsible for about a third of our country's climate-damaging emissions. In California transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas pollution, accounting for about 40% of the state's emissions. Fossil-fueled transportation emissions also create smog, soot and other harmful air pollution.

Reducing transportation emissions is one of the most vital steps in fighting the climate emergency, and solutions to the transportation problem are already available. Our nation needs to shift away from fossil fuel-powered vehicle dependence and toward zero emissions in all transport sectors.

STRENGTHENING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION AND NATIONAL FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS TO PHASE OUT SALES OF NEW FOSSIL-FUEL VEHICLES BY 2030

As a member of the large plaintiff group in Massachusetts v. EPA, we celebrated the Supreme Court's April 2007 decision declaring CO ₂ a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, which meant the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles under the Act. And in November 2007, the Center and our allies prevailed in CBD v. NHTSA, a major lawsuit filed against the Department of Transportation for failing to properly account for greenhouse gas emissions when setting unreasonably low national fuel economy standards.

In 2012 the Obama administration finalized greenhouse gas and mileage standards that mandated reaching maximum gas mileage of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. But cars and trucks are commercially available today that meet and exceed this standard, including a wide variety zero emission vehicles, and technology for these vehicles is rapidly advancing while costs are declining.

Nevertheless the Trump administration finalized a rule to revoke California's ability to set its own stringent greenhouse gas emissions standards (along with the ability of other states to follow California's lead), and proposes to roll back the existing, already insufficient standards adopted by the previous administration. We and our allies are fighting back against these disastrous proposals in court.

But beyond preserving our existing car standards, we need to phase out vehicles with internal combustion engines within the next decade to meet the demands of the climate emergency. Other countries, including Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Iceland and Germany, have already pledged to ban the sale of new fossil-fuel cars by 2030. We're pushing California and the federal EPA to expand renewable electric infrastructure and establish increasingly stringent emissions standards in cars, pickups, buses and trucks, which would prohibit the sale of any new fossil fuel cars no later than 2030.

REDUCING EMISSIONS FROM PLANES, SHIPS AND TRAINS

Cars aren't the only vehicles that pollute - airplanes, ships and trains produce a large portion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

Aircraft are the third-largest source of greenhouse gas pollution from the U.S. transportation sector and account for approximately 9 percent of U.S. transportation And the emissions from domestic aviation are increasing at an alarming rate - 17 percent since 1990.

Following more than a decade of petitions and successful litigation by the Center and allies over the EPA's failure address the effects of aircraft pollution under the Clean Air Act, in 2016 the EPA made a formal finding that greenhouse gas pollution from aircraft endangers human health and welfare. Yet it still has failed to release any rules to rein in this pollution. That is why in 2020 the Center and allies filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA over its failure to develop standards to limit greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft. We are working to ensure that the future of aviation is equitable, decarbonized and not reliant on false solutions to the climate problem.

Ships, besides releasing almost 3% of the world's CO ₂, are a main source of nitrous oxide and black carbon (soot). With international trade expected to increase in the coming years, emissions from ships and boats may increase by as much as 250% by 2050. Yet fully electric cargo and passenger ferries are already in operation in some countries. In 2007 we and our allies petitioned the U.S. EPA to set greenhouse gas limits for ships, and we're urging the administration under the next EPA to move forward with setting standards.

Greenhouse gas emissions from diesel-engine trains contribute two percent of U.S. transport emissions, and have increased seven percent since 1990, despite the widespread availability of more efficient fully electrified rail. The United States has an urgent need to modernize its rail network and eliminate diesel engines. In 2010 we and our allies petitioned the U.S. EPA to set emission standards for greenhouse gases and black carbon emissions, and will be pushing the next EPA to set emissions standards for trains to ensure a transition to 100% clean, renewably electric power by no later than 2030.

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The U.S. transportation sector is responsible for about a third of our country's climate-damaging emissions. In California transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas pollution, accounting for about 40% of the state's emissions. Fossil-fueled transportation emissions also create smog, soot and other harmful air pollution.

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Jun 21, 2019 | Our Changing Climate

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How cities are detoxing transportation | Monica Araya

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How cities are detoxing transportation | Monica Araya

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Oct 12, 2020 | TED

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How cities are detoxing transportation | Monica Araya

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Jun 22, 2020 | CNBC

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Change in your Transportation Future | Zach Krapfl | TEDxPaonia

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Change in your Transportation Future | Zach Krapfl | TEDxPaonia

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Apr 13, 2016 | TEDx Talks

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Change in your Transportation Future | Zach Krapfl | TEDxPaonia

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Amazon

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The Transportation and Climate Initiative

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The Transportation and Climate Initiative

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On Dec. 21, 2020, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia became the first TCI jurisdictions to launch the groundbreaking Transportation and Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P) to cut transportation pollution and invest in communities. This page includes more information and answers to frequently asked questions about TCI-P.

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To improve the quality of life for all American people and communities, from rural to urban, and to increase the productivity and competitiveness of American workers and businesses.

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Print

Overview and Resources

AASHTO's Resilient and Sustainable Transportation Systems Technical Assistance Program (RSTS) is designed to help state DOTs understand the potential effects of climate change and the range of strategies and options for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The RSTS Steering Committee and the tasks being implemented by the Technical Assistance Program help achieve these goals and are outlined in the RSTS 2017-2019 Strategic Plan.

RSTS is a voluntary pooled-fund program that provides timely information, tools, and technical assistance to AASHTO members in meeting the difficult challenges that arise related to climate change, energy efficiency, energy security, infrastructure adaptation, alternative vehicles and fuels, and other relevant topics. This program is a critical resource for state DOTs to address climate change and energy issues, while also providing the information needed to engage in and influence climate change and energy developments at the federal level.

Resources related to climate change mitigation and adaptation were previously housed under a separate AASHTO Climate Change Resource Center website. AASHTO has consolidated that information and integrated it within its broader Center for Environmental Excellence website.

RSTS-related resources can be located under Steering Committee presentations, Products and Programs, and the Climate Change Mitigation/Adaptation environmental topic under the subtopics Energy/Greenhouse Gas Emissions or Infrastructure Resilience. Each subtopic includes an Overview, Recent Developments, Key Resources, and Case Studies.

For more information on the RSTS Technical Assistance Program and membership (for state DOTs), contact AASHTO's Program Manager at climatechange@aashto.org.

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Resilient and Sustainable Transportation Systems Technical Assistance Program

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Print AASHTO's Resilient and Sustainable Transportation Systems Technical Assistance Program (RSTS) is designed to help state DOTs understand the potential effects of climate change and the range of strategies and options for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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The Department of Transportation (DOT) conducts research to examine potential climate-change impacts on transportation, methods for increasing transportation efficiency, and methods for reducing emissions that contribute to climate change. DOT's Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting coordinates transportation and climate-change research, policies, and actions within DOT and promotes comprehensive approaches to reduce emissions, address climate-change impacts, and develop adaptation strategies. DOT also contributes directly to USGCRP's National Climate Assessment through focused research such as the Center's Gulf Coast Studies. The Gulf Coast Phase 2 study, completed in FY 2015, developed tools to assist transportation agencies in performing climate change and extreme weather vulnerability assessments and build resilience.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) works closely with USGCRP and its participating agencies to identify and address key scientific gaps regarding aviation climate impacts and to inform mitigation solutions. Other DOT initiatives to address climate change and improve the sustainability of the U.S. transportation sector follow:

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and other DOT agencies are undertaking climate impact and adaptation studies (including vulnerability and risk assessments), working with science agencies to develop regional climate data and projections, conducting methodological research, supporting pilot programs, and providing assistance to transportation stakeholders including state, metropolitan, and local agencies. DOT has requested funding in FY 2017 for these purposes. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) completed seven Climate Change Adaptation Pilot studies to advance the state of the practice in adapting transit assets and operations to the impacts of climate change. These tools will help transportation agencies to consider improved resiliency and reliability of the transportation system in transportation planning, asset management and project development.

The FAA manages the Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions, and Noise (CLEEN) program as a government-industry consortium to develop technologies for energy efficiency, noise and emissions reduction, and sustainable alternative jet fuel. FAA also participates in the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), a public-private coalition to encourage the development of sustainable alternative jet fuel.

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The Department of Transportation (DOT) conducts research to examine potential climate-change impacts on transportation, methods for increasing transportation efficiency, and methods for reducing emissions that contribute to climate change. DOT's Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting coordinates transportation and climate-change research, policies, and actions within DOT and promotes comprehensive approaches to reduce emissions, address climate-change impacts, and develop adaptation strategies.

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Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Climate?

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Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Climate?

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Ayana Elizabeth Johnson: Welcome to How to Save a Planet. I'm Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.

Alex Blumberg: And I'm Alex Blumberg. This is the podcast where we talk about what we need to do to address the climate crisis, and how we make those things happen.

Alex: So it's been quite a week.

Ayana: Ugh. Boy, has it ever. I feel like I have an emotional hangover from this election stuff.

Alex: I don't know what I'm gonna now that I don't-that I'm not constantly refreshing vote tally websites.

Ayana: Yeah. So even though the winners have been called, we're still trying to understand, like, exactly what happened in the election and what role climate might've played. So more on that later.

Alex: More on that later. And we have a Biden administration that is settling into place, and I'm looking forward to using this podcast as a way to dive into what the Biden administration does on climate over the next four years and beyond.

Ayana: And how that matches up with, you know, what they said they were gonna do.

Alex: Exactly. That's all to come. This week though, we're not going to be focusing on presidential politics or any of that stuff that's happening in Washington. This week, we're focusing on you: Our listeners.

Ayana: Yeah. We thought you might also need a break from this maelstrom of electoral politics, so welcome to our week of counter-programming!

Alex: [laughs] Today's episode is inspired by you, our listeners, because you guys send us lots and lots of email, which we love getting. You have, like, comments about episodes. You-sometimes you just want to thank us or, like, point out things that we got right or wrong.

Ayana: Yeah. You all are so earnest and sweet and trying to figure out how to do right by the climate. It's really wonderful.

Alex: It's great. And a lot of times you ask us questions, or you say like, hey, could you guys do an episode on this?

Ayana: Yeah. And sometimes you all get extremely specific.

Alex: [laughs] Exactly.

Ayana: Which I am totally here for. People are requesting episodes on everything from the role of peatlands in carbon sequestration, to whether cloud-seeding is a good idea, to how we might scale renewable energy in the Midwest. And, you know, whether we might've been overlooking the role of beavers in ecosystem restoration. I mean, don't you want to know? And we might cover some of that in future episodes. So we do have a whole spreadsheet where we track your requests and recommendations.

Alex: Literally.

Ayana: There is a spreadsheet.

Alex: You're not lying. We literally have a spreadsheet where we put every single request for a show topic in the spreadsheet. And so, we take it really seriously. But on today's episode, we're gonna answer one question in particular that's come up multiple times. And in this case, in the case of the listener who wrote in, it's causing some minor relationship disputes.

Ayana: And because we care deeply about the quality of your romantic relationships, today we're gonna help resolve a couple's disagreement over what kind of car to buy.

Alex: It's How to Save a Planet meets Loveline meets Car Talk. Coming up after these messages.

Ayana: Oh, this is the Venn diagram I did not know I was wanting. Brilliant!

***

Alex: So on today's episode, we're answering one question that came from a couple of listeners.

Ayana: And here to help us answer this question is our reporter, Rachel Waldholz. Hi, Rachel.

Rachel Waldholz: Hi guys.

Ayana: So Rachel, what do you have for us today? What you got?

Rachel: Well, we got a great question from a couple of listeners in Germany, which is also where I'm based. And they sent us an email earlier this fall. So I called them back to have them explain their question. And I'll let them introduce themselves.

Rachel: They were a little nervous.

Alex: Oh!

Ayana: Didn't see that coming.

Alex: Jersey girl.

Rachel: So that's Ami Bogin and Harry Bishop. And their question is about electric vehicles-or EVs for short. Specifically: Should they buy one? They don't actually own a car at the moment. They live here in Berlin, which is pretty easy to get around using public transit or a bike or just walking. And Harry is from the UK, as he mentioned, has actually never owned a car. But Ami comes from New Jersey, which is also my ancestral homeland.

Alex: [laughs]

Rachel: And she was like, "Let's be real. At some point, we're going to have to own a car." And they're sort of thinking about moving out of the city. And so they have this argument over, like, what is the most environmentally-friendly option?

Ayana: Mm-hmm.

Alex: Right.

Ayana: This is so charming.

Alex: Mm-hmm.

Alex: Right.

Ayana: Good point, Harry.

Rachel: And I should mention this thought process of, like, weighing all the environmental pros and cons, they said they go through this thought process a lot for so many things.

Ayana: I can so relate to this.

Rachel: I know.

Ayana: [laughs]

Rachel: I just love that sentiment. Like, I just want to do the right thing.

Ayana: So earnest. So relatable.

Rachel: And while we cannot solve all of those consumer conundrums, we can tackle this one big question for them: you know, what kind of car should they buy?

Ayana: I'm so glad we're talking about this because I recently bought an electric car and ...

Alex: So did I. We are both proud electric vehicle owners.

Ayana: Like, I didn't actually do all this research and answer all the questions that Ami and Harry are asking, so I can't wait to hear the answers.

Alex: Yet one more benefit of hosting a podcast about the climate.

Ayana: Hopefully retroactive validation of our impulse purchases?

Alex: Exactly.

Rachel: So I called up a couple experts to see if I could get some clear answers about electric vehicles for Ami and Harry, and at least put their minds at ease on, like, this one question. Ami and Harry had asked which is better? A new electric vehicle or a used conventional gas car that you buy in your neighborhood? And we will get to that exact question, but just because we've gotten similar questions from a bunch of listeners, I first just wanted to just ask the basic question, comparing apples to apples, a new electric vehicle and a new, conventional gas-powered car. Is an electric vehicle really better for the climate and is that always true?

Rachel: And I sort of expected this to be a question with lots of variables and trade-offs, you know, depending on the grid where you live and the type of car. But this is the answer I got.

Alex: Whoa!

Ayana: I am so relieved. I thought it was going to be like, surprise! You're just a sucker who fell for the hype.

Alex: Phew. So but that's a pretty unequivocal answer. That was more unequivocal than I thought. I thought there was going to be a little bit more trade-offs.

Rachel: Yeah, I did, too. But Nikolas Hill, he's the guy who just said there should be no doubt, he knows what he's talking about, because he and his team just completed this giant two-year assessment looking at exactly this question. He works for Ricardo, it's a global consulting firm, and they were asked to do this study by the European Union. And basically they asked, you know, if you look at electric vehicles and compare them with internal combustion engines, and you look at them from the cradle to the grave, so from the mining or extracting the resources, through manufacturing, through actually driving the vehicle and then disposal, where do you come out?

Rachel: And basically their conclusion was that the environmental impact of electric vehicles is significantly less even across a wide range of circumstances. Even this question that Harry had: What if you're plugging into a grid with a lot of fossil fuels? Hill and his team looked at that, and he said they were surprised by how much of a benefit there still is.

Rachel: Hill and his colleagues were focused on the European Union, and they found that everywhere in the EU, an electric vehicle would have less emissions than a conventional car, except in Estonia, which currently gets about two-thirds of its electricity from coal. So they said there, if you're on a grid, that's two-thirds coal, okay, then you might see more emissions from an electric vehicle. But in a place like Germany, which still has significant coal on its grid, you're seeing something like 40 percent less emissions from an electric vehicle. And Germany is the closest equivalent within the EU to sort of the energy mix in the US in terms of how much coal is on the grid.

Alex: Wow.

Ayana: I am so glad that it is this clear.

Rachel: I know, right? Now Hill did say there is one part of the life cycle where conventional gas-powered cars do better than electric vehicles, and that's when they're being built. Because producing the batteries for electric vehicles is a really energy-intensive process, which leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions than manufacturing a conventional car.

Rachel: But that's just one part of the life cycle. And it's outweighed over time by the actual use of the vehicle, because driving an electric vehicle generates so much less in the way of emissions. And there are two big reasons why electric vehicles have lower emissions. The first is they're powered by the electric grid, not by fossil fuels. And as we add more and more renewable energy to our electric grids, they emit less and less in the way of greenhouse gases.

Ayana: So it's like this virtuous cycle, right? Where the cleaner the grid gets, the cleaner your electric car gets. Whereas with a gas car, it's just always gonna stay dirty, no matter how clean the grid ends up getting.

Rachel: Right. And then the second reason that electric vehicles have lower emissions, even in places that still have significant fossil fuels on the grid, is because the electric engine is actually just more efficient than the internal combustion engine. So you're wasting less energy in the process of running the car.

Alex: Yeah. I mean, if you think about it, a gas powered car is literally like a series of controlled explosions happening inside the engine block. And some of the energy from those explosions is moving the pistons up and down, which moves the car, but a lot of that energy is wasted. It's just making the engine really hot, and then you have to spend more energy to make the hot engine cooler. And all that energy that you're heating the engine and cooling it down with, that's wasted energy.

Rachel: Right, exactly.

Alex: But I do have one question, Rachel, because you know, Ami and Harry, they weren't talking about a new electric car versus a new gas-powered car. They were asking about a used gas-powered car.

Rachel: Yeah. So I put that question to Nik Hill, and here's what he said.

Ayana: That's a great alternative.

Alex: There you go.

Ayana: I'm into it.

Rachel: So Hill is basically suggesting a way for both Ami and Harry to be right, you know? He says yes, you should probably get an electric vehicle, but get a used one if you can. And when I called Ami and Harry back, they were pretty pleased with that answer.

Alex: It's so nice when there is an answer.

Ayana: Yeah. An easy and clear one.

Alex: And the answer you wanted.

Ayana: Also that. When you get the answer you were hoping was the answer, that's the best.

Alex: That is the best. So I'm really glad that we could help Harry and Ami answer this question.

Ayana: Yeah. Another satisfied listener.

Alex: So it seems clear that in terms of the climate, in terms of carbon emissions, buying an electric vehicle is better than the alternative, is better than buying a gas car, even if the gas car is used. But I've heard a lot of questions about, like, the other environmental impacts of electric cars. Specifically, I've heard there's a lot of environmental problems with the batteries that power these cars.

Ayana: Oh, yeah. This is absolutely worth talking about.

Rachel: Yeah. So there are big concerns about electric vehicle batteries, and specifically about some of the materials that go into making the batteries, which are only found in certain parts of the world. And there are big issues with both the environmental impact, but also with human rights abuses in the way that those materials are mined.

Rachel: So like for instance in Chile, lithium mining is using up a huge amount of water resources in a really dry region, and that's threatening local farmers. And the UN has reported on human rights abuses and even child labor at cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. So those are not small, right? Those are really big issues that the industry needs to solve, so that the transition to electric vehicles doesn't come at the cost of some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Alex: Yeah.

Ayana: Yeah, absolutely. And this rush to produce more batteries is also a driver of the desire to expand mining to the deep sea in places that we don't even understand yet what the ecological effects would be. So this-this whole deep sea mining thing is, unsurprisingly, really concerning to me.

Alex: And I think it's important, though, to compare the negative effects of these batteries and the mining that goes into making them with fossil fuel extraction, which also has a bunch of serious issues with that as well, right?

Rachel: Yeah, of course. I mean, the extraction, refining and burning of fossil fuels leads to all kinds of environmental and public health problems. And when I raised the issues around batteries specifically with Nikolas Hill, you know, he told me that it's really important to put those problems into context, and weigh them against the much bigger problems associated with fossil fuels and global warming.

Rachel: And Hill said there's just a ton of research right now looking at ways to minimize those problems. You know, everything from reducing the use of materials like cobalt, to finding whole new ways to make batteries. And while there's no guarantee, he's says he's really optimistic based on how quickly the battery industry has evolved just in the last five or ten years that they'll be able to come up with some solutions.

Ayana: That's great. We like solutions.

Rachel: Well, and one potential solution is actually better recycling, which would both reduce waste and also potentially limit the amount of new materials that need to be mined. The European Union is actually working to develop a set of regulations to govern exactly this, you know? And try to push the auto and tech industries to innovate and make batteries with less of an environmental footprint.

Ayana: We also like good policy.

Alex: So to recap ...

Ayana: Mm-hmm.

Alex: It sounds like what you are saying, Rachel, is that electric vehicles are in fact better than gas from a climate perspective, from an overall environmental perspective, in pretty much every instance-unless maybe you live in Estonia.

Ayana: [laughs] But I think it's also important to add, like, the answer isn't that everyone should, like, run out and go buy an electric vehicle.

Alex: Right. Like, that's not the sole answer, anyway.

Rachel: Right. Exactly. And experts say that electric vehicles can play a big role in cutting emissions from transportation, but they're definitely not a silver bullet. That said, they are a big part of our greenhouse gas emissions. You know, in the US, transportation is responsible for 28 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and more than half of that comes from passenger vehicles. So we need to reduce emissions from passenger vehicles, both by having lower emission vehicles, and by finding alternatives to individual vehicles to get around. o that means investing in public transit, bike infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, you know?

Alex: Bike lanes, bullet trains.

Ayana: High speed rail, please.

Alex: So important.

Ayana: Pretty please. I want it so bad.

Rachel: Yes. All of those as alternatives to just driving yourself around in your personal car.

Alex: Right.

Rachel: But when you are driving around in your personal car, better if it's an electric car.

Ayana: I think this is the hard part about all of these climate solutions that we talk about, is that we really need all of them.

Alex: Right.

Rachel: Yeah.

Ayana: The challenge is we need electric cars and we need better public transit and we need more bike lanes and we need to transform the grid off of fossil fuels, and we need more efficient buildings, and all of it at once. And so I think I don't say that to sort of overwhelm people, but to say, you know, how can we multitask or each pick one solution and contribute to it in some way? We don't all have to do everything, but we should each do something.

Alex: Yeah. And I think also, like, there's some sort of, like, helpful power in that way of thinking about it. I don't think it's actually overwhelming. I think it actually sort of takes some of the burden off the decision, where you're just sort of like, is it making it better or not? And if it's making it better in some way, then do it. Because we need lots of things that are making it better. And there's not going to be one perfect solution that's going to be the answer. There's going to be lots and lots of incremental decisions that are all moving in the right direction. And this is one of them. But even if driving an electric vehicle is solidly and definitely better for the climate, is it better for you?

Ayana: Yeah, let's get down to the selfish brass tacks here, huh? Is driving an EV one of those things that makes you feel all virtuous, but it's actually kind of a pain in the ass? Or is it really better all around?

Alex: Coming up, what it is actually like to drive an electric vehicle from two people who know.

Ayana: Us, Alex. We both have electric cars.

Alex: And we're going to tell you all about it.

Ayana: As people who own EVs tend to do. The good, the bad and the shameful after the break.

***

Alex: Welcome back. So we've talked about the environmental impacts of electric vehicles, but the thing that I think a lot of people worry about when it comes to buying an electric car is, like, does it work? You know, is it just like-is it a pain in the ass or not?

Ayana: Right. Is it practical? Is it reliable? Will I get stuck in the middle of nowhere when my battery dies?

Alex: And these are all questions that I wondered about. I thought an electric car was cool, but not something that I'd want to own because it wouldn't be practical. It wouldn't make sense for my lifestyle as a dad, carting around his kids all the time. But then I actually drove one. My in-laws out in California, they had one and they let us borrow it while we were out there visiting. And it basically turned me into a believer. And now that I've owned one for over a year, I can honestly say the experience of driving one is way different than I ever imagined in the beginning, and frankly way better.

Alex: And I know-and Ayana, I'm sure you can attest, lots of people have questions about what it's like to drive an electric vehicle, so we figured we can probably answer some of those questions.

Ayana: Yeah. We'll spill our guts to you.

Alex: And also Rachel, you're gonna help us with some of the reporting that you've done on electric vehicles.

Rachel: Yeah, I'll keep you guys honest.

Ayana: So not just gut-spilling, also facts.

Rachel: Yes.

Alex: Yes. Exactly.

Ayana: [laughs] Yes, please keep us honest!

Alex: Yeah.

Rachel: Yeah. Is this the point where we out you both as Tesla owners? Have we told the listeners that yet?

Ayana: Apparently it is-that is, the moment is now.

Alex: It's true, we each own a Tesla. And it is really embarrassing to admit, especially I think in my case, because I have a sort of fancy one.

Ayana: A definitely fancy one.

Alex: A definitely fancy one. Podcasting turned out to be an unexpectedly lucrative career for me late in life, after a career in public radio. And so I was actually able to afford a nice car. But there's this trade-off with the car that I have, which is that I wanted the kind of Tesla that can sit at least six people in order to cart kids and family around, but the only kind of Tesla that was big enough for that, had these falcon doors. You know the falcon doors that I'm talking about? Like the ones ...

Ayana: [laughs] Oh, I sure do.

Alex: It's like the DeLorean from Back to the Future?

Ayana: So really subtle, super understated. No one would be like, "What is that over there?"

Alex: There's nothing douchier than pulling up with your kids at school, just pile out kids! It's the worst. I hate it.

Ayana: And Alex, I thought all electric vehicles were like yours: pretty expensive, out of my price range, for sure. But when this year I needed a car for the first time in a decade and I started looking into it, I realized they're actually pretty price competitive. And I was like, oh, all right. I'm in.

Rachel: Yeah. You know, and this was one of the things that really surprised me when I was reporting for this episode, because I definitely hadn't quite caught up on this, which is that many electric cars are now in the same price range as equivalent gas-powered cars, especially when you take into account the full cost of owning the car. So take even Teslas, which are obviously on the high end, you know, the average cost of a new car in the U.S. right now is almost $38,000. And a new Tesla Model 3 might cost about $38,000. Now obviously, that is a lot of money, but it really surprised me that it was in that range.

Ayana: Oh, for sure. I thought a Tesla was like $200,000.

Alex: Yeah. That's right.

Rachel: I thought you were basically buying a spaceship, is actually where I was coming from. You know, and we should note that when we talk about prices, we're including federal subsidies in the US, and those can knock thousands of dollars off the price of electric vehicles. So they make a big difference. But also, prices are coming down because battery technology is improving and getting cheaper. And as that has happened, there's been this explosion of new electric cars on the market.

Ayana: Right. I was looking at the list and it's like, every car company basically has a few electric models now, from Nissan and Honda and Toyota and Audi and Ford is making an F150 pick-up truck that's electric, which I'm-I think is pretty cool.

Alex: I've seen an advertisement for, like, an electric Mustang on television.

Ayana: An electric Hummer is a thing that's being made. There's like Volvo and Porsche. Everyone's doing it.

Rachel: Yeah, and the prices have been coming down across the board. You know, Consumer Reports just came out with a study this fall, actually, looking at this wide range of cars and SUVs in the US. And they found that when you consider the total ownership costs of a car, so over the full life of the car, owning an electric vehicle can often be cheaper than owning an equivalent gas-powered car.

Rachel: Now the up-front purchase price for electric vehicles are usually more than equivalent gas-powered cars. So, for instance, a new Honda Civic hatchback might cost about $20,000, and an equivalent electric vehicle like a Nissan Leaf would be about $25,000. And that's taking into account federal subsidies. But then if you also look at maintenance and fueling costs, those are usually lower over the life of an electric vehicle, because they generally require less maintenance and fewer repairs, and it's cheaper to charge them at home than it is to buy gas. So how exactly they stack up still depends on where you live and how much electricity costs, and whether your state or city has additional subsidies for buying electric vehicles, but overall, owning an electric vehicle can be cheaper than owning a conventional internal-combustion engine car. And that is definitely a milestone.

Alex: Right. And we should say, this is not to imply that these cars are universally affordable or cheap. For lots of people, a new car of any kind is simply out of their price range.

Ayana: Yeah. But if you're gonna buy a new car, they're comparable.

Alex: Yeah. And that's the point, right? Like, a new EV is competitive with the price of a new gas car, which is sort of bonkers. And I think I didn't really realize that. And the other things that people worry about with electric vehicles, like the range, like how far can you drive one of these things before you need to recharge it? That's gotten so much better, too.

Ayana: The thing for me is, how many miles can you go on a single charge? Mostly because I'm sort of irresponsible, right?

Alex: [laughs]

Ayana: And because I live in New York City where you don't need a car, when I do drive, it's a long drive. So before the pandemic, I didn't have a car because I don't need one and, you know, I'm an environmentalist.

Alex: Right.

Ayana: But now, for visiting my mom who lives over an hour from the nearest public transit and to avoid, you know, bringing COVID with me, I started to look into buying a car. And I found out that some electric vehicles can go over 300 miles on a single charge. And that was a total game changer for me.

Rachel: Well, I was just gonna say, because you mentioned, like, range and charging, and I think for a lot of people who are thinking about electric cars, like, this is a big thing for them, is like how do I charge it? And then am I gonna get stuck in the middle of nowhere without a charge? Like, how do you guys charge your cars?

Ayana: When I'm upstate in New York with my mom at the farm, I just literally plug it into a regular outlet in the garage.

Rachel: Wait. And can I ask is it-do you just like-it's just a normal outlet? You don't need, like, some special charger?

Ayana: Like a completely regular outlet, like, where-the same place you plug in your laptop and your cell phone to recharge them, you can plug in your car.

Alex: [laughs] It really feels really weird. It's really cool, though. It just feels like you're getting away with something.

Ayana: It does.

Alex: And, you know, if your car's just plugged into the wall in the garage like a lamp, it takes, I don't know, 24 to 36 hours to fully charge. But if you're just driving around town, you're not actually depleting the whole battery, you're driving maybe 20 or 30 miles. And so plugging it in overnight is more than enough to charge it back up to where it was. And then if you do go on a longer trip, they have these high-speed charging stations where you can fully charge your battery in, like, I don't know, 20 to 40 minutes, which is like, you know, longer than filling a tank of gas, but not that long. You know, it's just like, get a snack, go to the bathroom. You're done.

Ayana: Listen to a podcast.

Alex: Listen to a podcast.

Ayana: Do some jumping jacks. Stretch your legs.

Alex: Exactly.

Ayana: And this is a big difference from even a few years ago, because there is this network of thousands of charging stations now all across the country. So, for example, between New York City and upstate New York where my mom lives, there are a dozen or more different charging stations along the way. So I can just pull over when I need to charge and take a break, stretch my legs, and then I'm off again.

Rachel: Yeah, and looking into this, it's clear that electric vehicles still make the most sense if you're able to charge it at home. You know, it's cheaper, you don't have to wait around while the car charges. And while there is definitely more charging infrastructure in the US than there used to be, most of the country still doesn't have enough to keep up with the projected increase in electric vehicles. Europe is actually doing a little bit better on this count, but it also still needs to build a lot more charging infrastructure as more electric vehicles hit the road. So depending on where you live, the lack of charging infrastructure can be a real downside to electric vehicles.

Alex: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Ayana: Yeah, you should definitely look at the map near where you live before you buy one to see if there are charging stations that will get you where you need to go.

Alex: There's one other point. It's probably important to make, you know, because of that efficiency thing we talked about?

Ayana: The thing where all the power goes into forward motion instead of tiny explosions of fossil fuels?

Alex: Yeah. And because of that, electric cars tend to accelerate faster, which makes them really fun to drive, right? Like, I mean, you know, Tesla sort of brags about this. They talk about how their cars go from 0 to 60 in under three seconds or whatever. But even something like a Nissan Leaf? That accelerates faster than what you think of are these, like, super fast, traditional cars. Like a traditional V8 muscle car, like a '68 Mustang? A Leaf goes from 0 to 60 faster than that. So it's just-its really good.

Ayana: [laughs] It's so good, in fact, that you will get a speeding ticket the first time you drive your car, because it is like a rocket ship.

Alex: [laughs]

Ayana: I need to go pay that speeding ticket, actually. It's, like, in the bottom of my purse, somewhere. Oops.

Alex: Because I think a lot of people have the feeling that you and Ayana and I had, which is just sort of like, yay, but they're not there yet. Or they're-it's going to be slightly a hassle, or something's-it's not-I'll be having to sacrifice by buying this car. And in fact, the opposite is true. I'm now living this reality. I'm living, in many ways, the future that we need. And I can tell people, like, this future is better. It's not just like, it's not gonna make do, it's better.

Ayana: Alex, I feel like what you're saying is we should both be less shy about admitting that we have electric cars. It's more like: come on in the water's fine! I think of it as, like, an exciting investment in the future, right? Because, like, obviously we're all gonna get off of fossil fuels at some point. Like, someone has to take the leap. And I was like, I'm in! This is a thing I can do to be part of this cool transformation.

Alex: Well, that's what I told myself, you know? Because I was very ashamed of it. And my instinct was ...

Ayana: I know. It's like the way that I made fun of you until I got my own.

Alex: And like, the doors! The deal I made with myself was like, I'm gonna stand proudly in front of those stupid-ass Falcon doors.

Ayana: [laughs]

Alex: And anybody who comes and talks to me, I'm just gonna talk about, like, how it's an electric car and it's much better. And that's what I'm gonna do with my shame is try to turn it into action.

Ayana: And that's pretty much what we just did here on this podcast episode. So big thanks to Rachel for bringing us all this great information on electric vehicles.

Rachel: Yeah, of course.

Alex: And thanks to Harry and Ami for sending in your question. Keep them coming. We love, love, love getting your questions.

Ayana: Yes, we love your questions. We also love your sweet love notes and other feedback. And you may recall that at the end of the last few episodes, we've asked you to send us voice memos if you took up any of our recommended actions, to let us know how it went. And a lot of you actually did. And they were so great that today for the first, but definitely not the last time, we're gonna share some of those messages.

Alex: And all these messages, they came in response to the episode about refrigerants we did a couple of weeks ago, it was called Cold Hard Cash for your Greenhouse Gas. And one of the resources that we recommended at the end of that episode was a website called Climate-Friendly Supermarkets. All right, so let's listen to our first message.
Hi, this is Olivia in New York City. And I wanted to let you all know I went onto climatefriendlysupermarkets.org and put in my zip code, and I was shocked to see that there are no climate-friendly supermarkets in my neighborhood of the Lower East Side.
Alex: Gah!

Ayana: Oh, cool!

Alex: [laughs]

Ayana: Activism, it's addictive. Careful, Olivia.

Alex: Awesome!

Alex: Aw!

Ayana: Aw!

Alex: That makes me so happy!

Ayana: Thanks for calling, Olivia!

Alex: That's great. That's so easy.

Ayana: I'm into this.

Alex: Yeah. Check out the website. Sign the petition.

Ayana: We're not just, like, screaming into the void.

Alex: Yeah. I know.

Ayana: People are listening and then, like, clicking and doing things.

Alex: Exactly. We're doing things together, people. We're not alone. Here, let's listen to another one.

Alex: Hi, Patrick.

Ayana: Oh, this is his jam!

Ayana: This is awesome.

Alex: Whoa!

Alex: [laughs]

Ayana: [laughs]

Ayana: Yay, Patrick!

Alex: Thank you, Patrick!

Ayana: This makes me so happy. I mean, how often do people call you and be like, Kigali Amendment, HFC 134-a? I'm in. But there was this one thing I didn't know.

Alex: I love that there is a listener for whom mentioning NASRC was their record scratch moment.

Ayana: A self-described refrigerant nerd, which I did not know was a subcategory of nerd, but I am obviously so here for that.

Alex: Oh, Patrick. Thank you so much. That was amazing. Let's listen to one more, shall we?

Alex: Hi!

Alex: Aww!

Ayana: This is like the best pep talk. I love this.

Alex: Traitor Joe's, am I right?

Ayana: Alex.

Alex: Whoa!

Ayana: Oh, cool!

Alex: Hmm.

Alex: Awesome.

Ayana: I can't believe that, like, refrigerant management was the thing that, like, got her back on social media.

Alex: Right.

Ayana: To be like, "Everybody, I have something important to share!"

Alex: But I think that's the thing, though, is that I think one of the nice things about, like, for me about doing this show, is just sort of realizing, like, this big, huge, overwhelming seeming problem of climate change actually has, like, parts. And each individual part has, like, individual solutions, and they're not overwhelming. And they're somewhat simple. It's like literally taking a different gas and putting it in our refrigerators, you know?

Ayana: The challenge is, as she described, it can be really hard to get to the bottom of all of these different topics and solutions on your own. And so it makes me feel really good that we sort of gave her the solid information that she needed to be like, "Oh, I get it. I'm in. Like, team, we gotta do something about this."

Alex: I think that is a really meaningful thing to do, especially if you haven't done it before, because as we know ...

Ayana: Yeah. Share some new information with people who probably trust you, because you're not just spouting off about a bunch of nonsense on there all the time.

Alex: Exactly. But also, as you know, one of the things that I've said this before, and I think it's really important to keep repeating to people, is that one of the most important things that you can do is to not be silent about caring about this issue and expressing your feelings on it.

Ayana: Totally. And I think that's even more true when we're talking about a specific solution, right? Like, not climate change overall, we should do something about it. But like, there's more of a, "Did you know" vibe to it, right? Like, "Did you know this thing about refrigerants? We should do something about that," right? And here's something we can do. As opposed to like, "Climate change is gonna kill us all!" Which is, like, okay. But, you know, what do I do with that?

Alex: Yeah, exactly.

Ayana: So it seems sort of counter-intuitive but, like, the more we focus on the smaller aspects of it, right? The step-by-step, okay, problem, solution, problem, solution. What's next? I think those kinds of things are also more exciting to spread the word about. Almost like some cocktail party facts.

Alex: Right.

Ayana: Did you know that there were all sorts of different kinds of refrigerants and some of them have, like, a zero global warming index and some of them are, like, times thousands? Shouldn't we pick-we should pick the better ones, right? Do you want to call Trader Joe's with me? [laughs]

Alex: [laughs] That's a crazy-sounding cocktail party.

Ayana: I mean, now you know what my social life is like. So for this week if you want to take action, as always we have a couple of recommendations for things that you can do.

Alex: This is maybe one of the most fun calls to action we've ever recommended. If you are thinking about buying a new car, test drive an electric vehicle. Just do it, check it out. Join us in the future. And if you're interested in how much that would reduce your greenhouse gas footprint, if you swapped from a conventional gas car to an electric vehicle where you live and where you'd be charging, there are actually a couple of calculators online that will help that help you figure that out.

Alex: The Union of Concerned Scientists has one that compares vehicles in the United States. And also the advocacy group, Transport and Environment has one for the EU. And we'll link to both of those in our show notes and in our newsletter.

Alex: And if you do end up taking any of our recommendations from this week's episode or any of the previous episodes ...

Ayana: Let us know how it goes.

Alex: Yeah. Let us know how it goes. You can do that by sending an email to howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com. Also, do not forget: subscribe to the newsletter.

Ayana: Oh, it's so good.

Alex: The link is in the show notes. We have all the recommendations, plus a couple of pictures behind the scenes, other resources that we link to.

Ayana: Occasional sassy TikToks embedded in there.

Alex: It's a barrel of fun, that newsletter, so subscribe. And that's definitely by far the best way to stay in touch and stay aware of all the resources that we have for actions to take.

Ayana: Barrel of monkeys in your inbox every week.

Alex: Barrel of monkeys. I just get older every day.

Ayana: Alex, we all get older every day. Don't worry about it. Lean into-lean into your age and your Tesla, and let's do this. Roll the credits.

Alex: How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and a Gimlet production. You can follow us @how2saveaplanet, with the number 2, on Twitter and Instagram, and email us at howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com-with or without the number 2. Your choice.

Ayana: How to Save a Planet is hosted by me, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg.

Alex: Our reporters and producers are Rachel Waldholz, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney.

Ayana: Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Bobby Lord and Catherine Anderson.

Alex: Our fact checker this episode is Claudia Geib.
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Ayana: Thanks to Lucien Matthieu, and special thanks to Olivia, Patrick, Molly and everyone else who wrote in and sent us voice memos. And especially to Ami Bogin and Harry Bishop, who inspired this entire episode.

Alex: We'll see you next week.

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Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Climate? | How to Save a Planet

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We love listener mail! You've sent us some amazing notes. Some made us laugh, some made us cry, and some made us say - hey, that's a great question! We should answer it. So this week, we dig into one of your questions, and in the process, resolve an argument for a couple who can't decide what kind of car is better for the climate.

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‎EV News Daily - The E-Mobility Podcast on Apple Podcasts

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Filled with interesting stories, almost breaking news, a pinch of wit and a dash of banter. A few guests who actually know what is going on in the world of EVs, renewable energy and sustainability.

Filled with interesting stories, almost breaking news, a pinch of wit and a dash of banter. A few guests who actually know what is going on in the world of EVs, renewable energy and sustainability.

Fun and Informative

I like shows like this that focus on the progress we're making in transitioning to a cleaner, greener future. It's refreshing and Robert's English wit and anecdotes are charming and fun. His huge array of guests are often fascinating to listen to as they lay out the history, science, and goals of renewable energy.

I know most people follow the Fully Charged youtube channel for their EV coverage, but I always preferred the bigger picture stuff like grid development or how renewables are overtaking fossil fuels. Thankfully this show focuses on the latter and in great detail. Highly recommended if you want to feel hopeful for the future while also learning something.

More Please

Hello from Tucker, GA!
I found your podcast this year and I am thoroughly enjoying learning about building green and everything sustainable.
I hope you will continue to create more content! The world needs this information. This knowledge can empower us, help heal our planet, live in harmony with nature, and with each other in community. Thank you!

All the best,
Kristina

Love it

Feels like saving the world and interesting stuff

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‎The Fully Charged PLUS Podcast on Apple Podcasts

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Filled with interesting stories, almost breaking news, a pinch of wit and a dash of banter. A few guests who actually know what is going on in the world of EVs, renewable energy and sustainability. Filled with interesting stories, almost breaking news, a pinch of wit and a dash of banter.

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No link. Go look.

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Sustainable Living E4 | Transportation: Cycling, Walking, Public Transportation, Car Sharing

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Sustainable Living E4 | Transportation: Cycling, Walking, Public Transportation, Car Sharing

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Sustainable Living E4 | Transportation: Cycling, Walking, Public Transportation, Car Sharing