Fear uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is a real thing. Some of the ways it is perpetuated however, are not intended to be factual, they are simply designed to spread false claims.
There are many reasons for this, oil companies for example, may see EVs as a threat to their monopolistic business. Individuals may be concerned by new technologies, and rather than embracing them they try to discredit them. Then there are the social media warriors who re-post the same incorrect information time and time again without checking it!
With plans now in place (in the UK and other countries) to phase out sales of ICE vehicles over the next 10 to 15 years, perhaps we need to embrace the EV?
Looking at the end of 2020 new registration figures, petrol and diesel still take the lion’s share of about 70% or sales. The actual sales numbers were very much down in 2020 due to Covid 19, but the charts below show how fast the sales of cars with some sort of electric drive are growing. BEVs grew from 1.6% in 2019 to 6.6% in 2020.
In this series of articles, exclusive to Automechanika’s auto:resource, I will dispel some of the myths and clear up the FUD! You may not agree with everything I say, and that’s fine, I may even be wrong – so let’s debate.
Below, have presented some claims and issues as statements or questions – and then either agreed or shown them to be untrue.
What do I drive and why?
In the interests of openness, I will admit to being an electric-head! My next car will be a BEV, but I currently drive a PHEV in pure EV mode most of the time because I do lots of short journeys. The car charges at my home from solar PV panels. So why do I like the change to EVs? Apart from ICE cars being so last year, it is my view that EVs are the best choice because:
- there is zero company car tax, which saves £2500 – £5000 per year
- the fuel is much, much cheaper (add up a year of fuel receipts and see what you will save)
- I could beat you every time from a standing start (in an equivalent ICE)
- there are few moving parts, and the running costs are very low
- they are so much nicer to drive
Of course, we need to deal with some issues like more and better chargers and alternative fuels (more on these in the next article), but in my opinion there are two key reasons why EVs are, inevitably, the future:
- They are superior in every way to drive. Flat torque curve, smoother, quieter, pre-conditioning is easy and much more
- The efficiency of a pure ICE car, even with all the bells and whistles added to improve performance and reduce emissions is much less than an EV.
We are lucky to get 30% thermal efficiency (how much energy in the fuel is actually used) from an ICE, whereas an EV is at least 60% efficient converting grid electricity to useful energy. A lot of our electricity is now generated by wind and sun, so the result is a much cleaner car with the advantage of almost zero emissions at the point of use.
Little or no losses are measured when delivering electricity via the existing grid infrastructure, but liquid fuel has to be transported in tankers that use diesel.
Environmental damage
Digging raw materials for EVs causes environmental damage. I agree, it certainly does. However, this is no different for ICE vehicles. It is often an area that is used to bash the EV none-the-less. Here is an example of the type of fake news we need to dispel:
This type of ‘news’ is designed to spread a false view of EVs, and the claims are simply not true! The top image is not a lithium mine. It is one of the largest copper mines in the world, in Chile. The bottom image does show a type of oil sands drilling site, but it is not comparable to a copper mine. More typical is this image which shows just a small part of an oil sand extraction site in Canada.
It is not my intention here to suggest that EVs have a much lower environmental impact than ICE vehicles, they don’t, but one is not worse than the other.
Child labour
It is often suggested that mining rare earth materials such as Cobalt will mean increased human rights violations. Cobalt is used in some EV motors and many batteries. Congo is the leading cobalt producing country and produces about 60% of the world’s demand. Cobalt is mostly mined as a by-product of either copper or nickel. It is accepted that in the Congo, young children are working to mine these materials and the conditions are extremely hazardous.
Nobody in their right mind would condone child labour, but we have been using phones, laptops, tablets and more things containing cobalt, for many years. For ICE vehicles, oil and other products are not clean and nice to extract either; child labour features here too. As a step forward, many batteries and motors now use substantially less rare earth metals than earlier version, but this is still an issue.
We should work to eradicate child abuse. Perhaps a larger demand will mean a more regulated and properly developed mining industry. I certainly hope so, but my point again here would be that EVs are not the only cause of this awful problem.
Life cycle analysis
Electric cars are not 100% green and probably never will be. Compared to an ICE car, they currently create more CO2 during manufacture. However, it is important to look at all aspects of a vehicle’s life to determine if it is environmentally better than another. This is known as life cycle analysis. To determine the real carbon footprint of a vehicle, its life needs to be considered during three phases:
- Production
- Use
- Recycling
To make a comparison, I researched the same vehicle model but with different powertrains. The 2019 Golf TDI and the e-Golf. Overall, the diesel car emits 140g CO2/km on average over its entire life cycle, while the e-Golf is lower at 119g CO2/km.
Most emissions from the battery-powered electric vehicle are generated in the production phase. The diesel car generates 29 g CO2/km, the EV creates 57 g CO2/km.
During the use phase, that is, in the supply chain of the fossil fuel and the combustion, the diesel reaches 111 g CO2/km. The EV emits only 62 g CO2/km during this phase, which results from energy generation and supply.
An area perhaps yet to be fully exploited, but during recycling the EV has more value – batteries for second use for example. This will further reduce the carbon footprint.
Overall, a close call on this comparison but after about 5 years the CO2 was shown to be about the same – after that, the EV moves into the lead. As power generation becomes greener, then the EV moves into the lead much sooner.
Batteries are heavy and expensive
It is claimed that a typical electric car is much heavier than a petrol equivalent. Further, that more weight means more wear, causing more particle dust from tyres and brakes. Let’s look at the weights first:
- Golf diesel = 1,417kg
- eGolf = 1,615kg
No argument from me, the EV is 12% heavier, however, this is more than made up for by the better efficiency of the electric drive train. Further, the reduction in tyre and brake dust due to regenerative braking will far exceed what may be created by the extra mass.
Many EV ‘benefit-deniers’ will claim the batteries are expensive and that they will need replacing regularly. Because of this there is a laudable concern that this alone will price lower-income families out of car ownership.
I have a few answers to this claim. Firstly, there are Toyota Prius cars from the late 1990s out there, still running on the same batteries. Secondly, electric running costs are so much lower that even if a new battery is needed, the overall cost is still comparable or less than an ICE vehicle. Thirdly, in most cases, batteries are also easier to repair than many people think (when trained properly of course) so the cost is nowhere near that of a new battery.
EVs are too complex
There is a concern that, because of the complex technology on an EV, drivers will not be able to fix even simple things on their car themselves. The claim also goes as far as saying they are too complex for many garages.
Well, sorry to be harsh here, but good! This means more and better work for the professionals who are properly trained and qualified. Bring it on.
Motorsport will be destroyed
The suggestion here is that motorsport will be ruined because electric racing cars are sterile and unexciting with limited range.
This clearly came from somebody who has never been to a Formula-e race. It is far from sterile and very exciting. Other formulas will just keep using ICE anyway because petrol will still be available. Racing cars will not be affected, they will still use whatever engine they want, there are no moves to legislate against this.
Repair costs
It was suggested to me that rebuilding an engine is less costly than reconditioning an EV battery.
This is not true. First off, proper engine overhaul can be very expensive. Secondly, a real-life example: we removed a Nissan Leaf battery the other day, replaced a faulty cell pack, put it back all tested and working in about 4 or 5 hours. You would spend much longer than that doing an engine overhaul. Even just replacing a cam belt on some engines will take that long.
ICE as new tech
Here is a different way of looking at the benefits of EVs. It is a series of questions from somebody thinking of replacing their electric car with a petrol one. It is a good way to consider the pros and cons. Original source lost but my thanks to an unknown Norwegian EV driver:
- I have heard that petrol cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home in the future?
- Which parts will need to be serviced and how often? The car salesman mentioned a box with gears in it, and what is this and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear?
- Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
- Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so but need to ask to be sure.
- The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal for petrol cars? It also seemed to have a slightly slower acceleration. Maybe there was a problem with the car I test drove?
- I currently pay about 4 pence per mile to drive my electric car (unless the sun is shining, and it is free). I have heard that petrol can cost up to 10 times as much so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 15,000 miles a year. Let’s hope more people will start using petrol so prices go down.
- Is it true that petrol is highly flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
- Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in an accident?
- Can I warm the petrol car up or cool it down in the morning before setting off without running the engine?
- I understand that the main source of petrol is crude oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems, as well as conflicts and major wars, that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
Answers on a postcard please!
Tree hugging
While having one of my many debates with some EV sceptics, it was suggested I could be a tree hugger! Well, I will admit that I don’t mind a tree-hug now and then, but the 2m distancing rules made it a challenge recently!
Seriously though, there are clearly some issues with EVs that we still need to solve. Overall, they do have a smaller carbon footprint than an equivalent ICE, but not by a huge amount – yet. Finally, and I say this as a massive motorsport petrol head: For normal day to day use, an EV is nicer to drive and a much better choice overall.
In the next article we will look at EV noise, charging, fire, hacking and maintenance.