Contact information

MidTide Media 123 Pleasant St Suite 300. Marblehead, MA 01945.

Electric cars have the potential to dramatically reduce CO2 production in the United States; CO2 emissions from burning gasoline and diesel cause 1.5 billion metric tons of CO2 per year, which is 30% of total US energy-related emissions.

A number of friends of ours have electric cars, and hoo boy are they fun. (Got to drive a Tesla recently and holy smokes does it have some get-up-and-go.) A reader asked me recently how much an electric car–over lifetime–reduces CO2 output versus a conventional car. They wondered whether charging a car with a predominantly hydrocarbon-based energy grid actually helped the environment. It could be a major environmentalist’s dilemma.

We decided to do the research. These are some very vague figures based on lots of averages. The idea is to get a close estimate of CO2 impact of electric cars vs. conventional. 

To get started, we need some key facts, and then we’ll do some math in the analysis. We’ll also stick to Massachusetts for this analysis–it’s Erik’s home state and electricity production varies from country to country.

Some Key Facts

Math Time

The Gas-Running Civic

For every 100 miles, a Honda Civic produces about (3.1 * 20 * 1.25) = 77.5 pounds of CO2

Over its lifetime (12,000 miles * 6 years), it will produce 55,800 pounds of CO2

Add its 17 tonnes of manufacturing CO2 (or 34,000 lbs), you get a total of 90,000 pounds

The Electric Leaf

Taking Massachusetts’ mix into account, the total CO2 per kWh produced at night is about 0.9 lbs.

Therefore, for every 100 miles, a Nissan Leaf produces about (29 * 0.9) = 26 pounds of CO2

Over its lifetime (12,000 miles * 6 years), it will produce 18,700 pounds of CO2

Add its 19 tonnes of manufacturing CO2 (or 38,000 lbs), you get a total of 56,720 pounds

The Verdict

Over a very average car lifetime, your total CO2 footprint for an electric car will be something like 37% lower than a gas-powered sedan. If you live in Massachusetts. If you live in West Virginia, which is 96% coal, you’ll be producing more than 2x the carbon while driving your electric car than if you live in Massachusetts. Then, you’re only burning about 20% less CO2 over the lifetime of the car. (But, despite being all coal, still less!)

What’s particularly interesting is that if you amortize the CO2 costs of manufacturing each car over those 6 years, you’re banking 5600 (gas) and 6300 (electric) pounds of CO2 per year. 

If you’re planning to switch from a gas powered car to an electric car, the added bump of CO2 means it’ll take quite some time to “earn back” your CO2 savings. Let’s do even more math real quick:

Bonus Math

CO2 manufacturing cost of a new electric car: 38,000 pounds

CO2 savings per year on average use vs. using your old electric car (in Massachusetts): 6,200 pounds

Number of years required to “earn back” the CO2 from manufacturing the new car (38,000 / 6,200) = 6.1 years, or the average lifespan of a car. In West Virginia, that earn-back time is about 11 years.

For the most immediate carbon impact, you might want to hold on to your old car a few years longer. Or, alternatively, commit to using your electric car for more than 6 years.

Other Factors

There is probably a long-term benefit to being part of the vanguard that pushes electric cars along the production curve. As they reach scale, they are likely become more efficient per mile, might become less CO2 intensive per unit, and (most importantly) will increase the load on the US electrical grid.

Coal plants are now no longer competitive to build, and renewables are becoming increasingly competitive. If many people were to buy electric cars, they would drive the building of new power plants (which have an initial CO2 footprint of their own, but that’s for another time), which are more likely to be natural gas and renewable, which drops the CO2 output per kWh. 

So it’s likely that the impact of your electric car purchase could be long-term positive, even if you don’t run it into the ground. 

28 Comments

  • Amos, June 1, 2017 @ 3:58 pm Reply

    It’s worth noting that electric cars also tend to be less expensive per mile over their lifetime than equivalent gasoline cars: http://carboncounter.com/

  • Ryan Mitchell, June 2, 2017 @ 2:50 am Reply

    The conversion can go wildly either way, depending on all of the factors you’ve named and more. One of the reasons I’m dramatically for electric cars, regardless of how the math works out in specific cases is that it centralizes our energy usage, making it much much easier to switch to sustainable energy sources. We essentially have millions of tiny little independent energy generators running around on wheels right now — that’s terrible for getting everyone on the same page. If everyone switches to electric cars and plugs into a coal or gas powered grid… well, that sucks, but it’s much easier to flip the switch (okay, "flip the switch" as in "massive construction efforts over decades") and say "oh hey! Everyone’s hydroelectric/wind/solar now! You’re welcome!" Electric cars aren’t the end solution, but they’re an important foundational stepping stone to sustainable energy.

  • Ryan Mitchell, June 2, 2017 @ 2:59 am Reply

    Also, I’m not affiliated with this company in any way, but if you’re in New England and get power through National Grid, you can sign up with Mass Energy in just a couple minutes (with your NGrid account number) and essentially switch your own power consumption to sustainable sources. There are some companies where you buy generic "sustainable energy credits" that could be generated in a wind farm in Texas (where wind is plentiful and no one really wants the energy), but Mass Energy make the point of buying/supporting local energy that’s pumped back into the same grid you’re on. National Grid doesn’t advertise it a lot because it basically drives up the cost of sustainable energy by making these credits scarcer, so they have to go and actually build more stuff, but, from the research I’ve done, it’s one of the easiest and cheapest ways to actually decrease your footprint. https://www.massenergy.org/renewable-energy

    So if you sign up for that AND have an electric car, the numbers become a little different 😉

    • Erik Fogg, June 2, 2017 @ 3:57 am Reply

      Awesome; thank you 🙂

  • get rid of picture Background, March 12, 2019 @ 12:41 pm Reply

    Thanks for sharing this amazing article. I like it very much.

  • Digital Marketing Consultant, March 20, 2021 @ 8:02 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you can find 57393 more Information on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • 원샷홀덤, April 7, 2021 @ 3:25 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • Buy DMT, April 13, 2021 @ 12:56 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More Info here on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • canlı bahis siteleri 2021, May 19, 2021 @ 12:00 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here to that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • replica hubolt, June 22, 2021 @ 10:12 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] There you will find 57474 more Information on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • microsoft exchange cloud, June 26, 2021 @ 5:50 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Info to that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • cloud DevOps company, July 2, 2021 @ 6:00 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • پوکر و بت, July 19, 2021 @ 12:37 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here to that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • Darknet Anleitungen, September 15, 2021 @ 10:14 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you can find 71033 more Info on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • Buy weed online Germany, October 10, 2021 @ 8:33 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More to that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • what is embedded banking, November 22, 2021 @ 11:20 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More Info here to that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • real estate for sale, December 1, 2021 @ 12:39 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • Market, December 10, 2021 @ 7:16 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information to that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • กล่องอาหาร, January 9, 2022 @ 10:13 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • best online business courses, January 21, 2022 @ 11:36 pm Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • DevOps Latest Trends, March 30, 2022 @ 2:48 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 816 additional Information to that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • sbo, April 6, 2022 @ 12:05 am Reply

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 68523 additional Info on that Topic: reconsidermedia.com/the-environmentalists-dilemma-electric-cars/ […]

  • soothing music, October 7, 2023 @ 4:46 pm Reply

    soothing music

  • sleeping music, October 8, 2023 @ 11:22 pm Reply

    sleeping music

  • relaxing jazz, October 12, 2023 @ 6:40 am Reply

    relaxing jazz

  • japanese type beat, November 15, 2023 @ 11:23 pm Reply

    japanese type beat

  • jazz instrumental, March 2, 2024 @ 6:01 pm Reply

    jazz instrumental

Leave a Reply