Electric car vs gasoline car which one has better emission?
Emission of Electric car and gasoline car
Are you a gasoline car user, or are you starting to switch to using an electric car? The electric car promises to produce no emissions because the engine uses electric power. However, electric cars are still quite expensive.
For some people who have a limited budget, they tend to choose Petrol cars because they are cheaper. Some people who have more funds, they have the option of using an electric car.
The motivation for owning an electric car is to want to contribute to reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuels. But do electric cars really have lower carbon emissions than petrol cars?
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| electric car vs gasoline car which one has better emission? |
How to assess the environmental impact of an electric car
To answer this question, a more holistic view is needed. Every human activity has a relationship with other activities. All these interconnected chains must be assessed for their environmental impact. This method of measuring the overall impact is called a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
In the previous article, we discussed how the world company Apple is trying to reduce carbon emissions from its products (Click here). Even though Apple parts come from all over the world. So each of their suppliers must be ensured that they have low carbon emissions as well.
In assessing the environmental impact of electric cars, we must look at what activities are related to the production and use of these cars.
Electric cars do not produce emissions when used on the road. So for emissions on the road, electric cars have advantages over petrol cars.
However, charging an electric car is a tough task. The process of producing electricity in each country is different. There are several countries that still rely on fossil energy as the main fuel,
The greater the number of uses of electric cars means that more electricity is needed. If electricity producers are still dominated by coal or petrol, then the overall emissions of activities will also increase. And this is not a proper decision.
Innovations to support electric cars
However, there are countries that are already committed to reducing the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity. For example, several countries in Europe such as France are already 70% using nuclear power plants. Or Germany who is passionate about solar power.
New energy and renewable energy do have the advantage of producing electricity that is more environmentally friendly. This will support the increasing effectiveness of the use of electrical equipment.
In the case of electric cars, regions that use renewable energy are considered very ready to adopt this technology. Meanwhile, regions that still rely on fossil fuels as their power plants are considered less optimal if they switch from petrol cars to electric cars.
In developing countries like Indonesia, the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation reaches 95%. The government records coal use at more than 60%. This results in very high emissions from power plants.
A study at Sweden's Max Planck Institute found that a combination of nuclear power and hydropower is considered more effective in terms of emissions. Meanwhile, wind power is not able to meet the national scale so it needs to be supported by steam and coal power.
The use of electric cars is great and shows a commitment to reducing emissions in cities. However, it would be better if it was supported by an environmentally-friendly electric energy generator.
Public Awareness of Renewable Energy
However, over time, public awareness of environmentally friendly energy has increased. This is also reinforced by sales of Tesla electric cars which are growing exponentially.
Some countries such as India, Australia and America even provide rebates for their citizens who want to switch to using solar panels. You can imagine if each house is independent of electrical energy, the use of electric cars will also be more effective.
Several countries are competing to invest in batteries. The mines for the supply of battery materials are being contested by various countries. For example, the Lithium mine in Indonesia is getting the attention of two major countries in the world. The battery is a vital ingredient of a very valuable electric car.
The Arab oil monarchs are ready to break free from oil dependence by 2030. They will focus on serving Hajj, information technology, artificial intelligence and agriculture. This is done because world oil prices are getting lower over time due to political upheaval and shifting public interest from petrol cars and electric cars.
In addition to the development of battery manufacturing, development in battery recovery is necessary. This is because batteries have raw materials from rare earth which are very difficult to find. So old electric car batteries should not be thrown away.
All of these activities show the increasing public interest in environmentally friendly energy. The role of LCA itself is to trace the environmental impact of each chain of activities. So that we can be sure the selected activity is more environmentally friendly.
Also read: 4 Types of Renewable Energy You Should Know