Harut Lementsyan

CST 300 Writing Lab

Electric Cars and Our Environment

Are electric cars really the solution for reducing our carbon footprint? In the past few

years the popularity of electric cars has increased significantly and with it many questions arose

about their benefits and effects on our environment. According to Peters D.R. (2020) “U.S.

vehicle electrification is expected to significantly reduce transportation CO2 emissions and has

the potential to improve air quality and mitigate thousands of annual premature deaths.” It is

important to remember that air quality can have a significant effect on our health and by keeping

our air clean we can improve our quality of life. Not only will it improve our quality of life but

also it will help our environment and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions to our atmosphere.

This sounds very promising but after these types of claims by electric car companies

many scientists and researchers brought up the question if making lithium and other types of

batteries would actually harm our environment more. Others were concerned about the safety of

electric cars and the “futuristic” technologies that were implemented within. It is important to

look at this issue from both sides.

While there is a clear benefit that these car companies are promising to the general public

and governments there also should be the question of safety of implementing large batteries in

cars, disposal of those batteries and the creation of those batteries and how much negative effect

it will have on our environment. Thankfully many of the car manufacturing companies started to

be more environmentally cautious and implemented those ideologies in their manufacturing.

According to Tesla’s 2020 Impact report “In 2020, Tesla customers helped accelerate the world's
transition to sustainable energy by avoiding 5.0 million metric tons of CO2e emissions.” While

these numbers are used for promotional purposes it does prove that electric cars do help to

reduce carbon dioxide emission to the atmosphere. We saw a glimpse of what happens when

there is not that much CO2 emission during the Covd19 shutdown when people stayed home and

did not drive that much, the air quality improved significantly and the CO2 emission decreased

as well. While we don’t want to have shut down like that we can get the same benefits if we were

to change our car market to fully electric cars.

This question has two sides or two supporting groups. One group of people are those who

fully support the transition from gas powered cars to electric and who believe that the benefits of

having electric cars outweigh the negative effects that it might have on our environment. While

gasoline powered cars changed the game in the early 1900’s it is time to say goodbye to them

and welcome a new generation of cars which are faster, more efficient and don’t promote

greenhouse gas emissions that much or at all according to some.

While it would be a stretch to say that the manufacturing of electric cars does not

promote greenhouse gas emission at all we can certainly be confident that driving one does not

contribute to it. According to Morfeldt (2022) after conducting the study in Sweden “ERS

combined with stationary charging could enable additional reductions in the cumulative carbon

footprint of about 12–24 million tons of CO2 over 30 years (2030–2060) compared to an

electrified fleet only relying on stationary charging.” This study is going over how much more

can electric cars help the environment with CO2 emission if we also implement charging roads

such as highways so that the car would be charging on the road hence the need of charging

stations and fast chargers would decrease.

charging on the highways hence it would not need to have a huge battery to support its functions.

Just think about the advantages of driving your car on the highway and charging it. That just

sounds incredible! Usually the most gas is used on the highways but with implementation of

ERS it would be quite the opposite. We would be charging on the highways and spending the

energy on the streets. That is only a possibility because of electric cars and the batteries that are

used.

Think about how iphones and other smartphones are able to wirelessly charge. The same

thing would happen to the electric vehicle with its battery. It would have the ability to charge

wirelessly while driving on the road. Some car manufacturers like Tesla do have a wireless

charger for charging their cars but that technology has not yet been implemented on the roads. It

is solely used for stationary charging when the car is at rest and not driving. The idea that this is

possible and also it will significantly reduce our carbon footprint is mindblowing. Not only do

we get this cool technology but also help our environment? Sounds like a steal.

According to Madichetty (2021) “other factors that have caused an increase in trends

towards electric vehicles include better torque–speed capabilities, ability to operate without any

transmission, low maintenance, zero emissions and noiseless operation.” Noiseless operation has

a big environmental impact. Imagine living next to the freeway and having all that noise all the

time. How much would that noise decrease if we transitioned fully to electric vehicles? It would

be absolutely incredible.

With having low maintenance and better and faster speed and torque electric cars are

currently making it to the top for number one choice. Some people are convinced that they are

going to take the car market. Many if not most car manufacturers have already released their own
version of fully electric cars. The most recent one was Cadillac. This shows that the car

manufacturing industry is indeed headed more to electric vehicles and it is possible that in a few

years or by 2030 according to some studies that all cars will be electric.

While electric cars are great and have tons of scientifically proven advantages to them it

is important to not forget that electric cars as of this moment carry large lithium ion batteries

which are hazardous on their own but the making of those batteries contributes to greenhouse gas

emission significantly according to the other group of people. In reference to Sobol (2020)

“electricity production is still based on fossil fuels which can significantly influence the indirect

emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere associated with battery charging.” It turns out

that we do indeed still contribute to greenhouse gas emissions with electric vehicles.

While there can be many “environmentally friendly” energy sources that can be used for

charging electric cars as of now most of the electricity is still coming from fossil fuels which

does unfortunately contribute to CO2 emissions. In the future maybe electric cars would help to

reduce our carbon footprint but as of right now manufacturing and actually everyday driving can

indirectly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. It just looks perfect from first glance but there

are quite a few issues and concerns with electric vehicles, their safety and true effect on our

environment.

According to Agresti (2021) “2021 paper in the Journal of Cleaner Production found that

electric cars emit 48% less CO2 than gasoline-powered ones. Although this is lower, it is still far

from “zero-emission.” While it’s great that electric cars emit less CO2 it still shows the false

advertisement of electric car brands that their cars emit 0% to greenhouse gas emissions. The car

manufacturers like Tesla are advertising their cars for that and while there is some truth that

those cars emit less it still is far from being zero.

charging, operating, and disposing of electric vehicles produces more of every major category of

pollutants than conventional cars. This includes: an increase in fine particulate matter formation

(26%), human carcinogenic (20%) and non-carcinogenic toxicity (61%), terrestrial ecotoxicity

(31%), freshwater ecotoxicity (39%), and marine ecotoxicity (41%) relative to petrol vehicles.”

Electric cars might indeed produce less CO2 since they are powered by batteries rather than

gasoline, their manufacturing and disposing create other pollutants which are not only dangerous

for the environment but also for humans. Electric cars should not contribute to an increase in

carcinogen production and other toxicities if the goal of those companies is to help our

environment, people and reduce our carbon footprint. It defeats the purpose by creating way

more toxic waste and dangers for humans.

Is it better to have less CO2 emissions and reduce our carbon footprint that way though

create more toxic waste in the product or is there an alternative? On one side one might argue the

full benefits of transitioning to electric cars and how great they are but let’s not forget the huge

disadvantages that come with it. If our goal is to reduce the amount of CO2 emission and be

more environmentally cautious then electric vehicles are a good start but as of right now we can’t

see the full benefits because of all the flaws and mistakes that are being made with the electric

vehicle productions, usage and charging. Are electric car companies falsely advertising all the

advantages that electric cars provide and hiding all the negative sides? Are they simply doing it

for marketing purposes or is there really a thought about our environment after all?

For the group of people who would agree that electric cars are indeed beneficial for our

environment it would be appropriate to use the care ethics framework. While electric cars can be

“fun” and technologically packed the greatest benefit is the reduction of CO2 emission. In the
past century humans have contributed so much with manufacturing of cars and burning of fossil

fuels to greenhouse gas emissions that the idea of reducing our carbon footprint by driving

electric cars is coming from care for others and care for our general population and most

importantly care for the environment. It is the care for others that many people turn to driving an

electric car instead of the regular gasoline powered one. According to recent surveys, that is one

of the top reasons that people are switching to electric vehicles. They see the benefits that the

electric cars that are providing now and the future benefits will be even greater for our

environment. Not only electric help with reducing our carbon footprint but they also provide

great safety technology and driving assistance that gasoline cars currently do not. While electric

cars are great and provide tons of benefits two its users and the environment, the other group of

people would disagree and argue against it.

Are electric cars really that beneficial as claimed by the car companies or they are simply

false advertising for their profit? It would be appropriate to use ethical egoism for this argument.

Why don’t the car companies tell about all the toxic waste that is being produced from the

manufacturing of the cars and batteries? Why don’t they talk about how most of the electric

charging stations are not using green energy but still are using fossil fuels to power them? Why

don’t they talk about the danger that those very large lithium and other batteries have? These are

all questions that lead to a large group of people believing that electric cars are not as beneficial

for our environment as advertised by the electric vehicle companies. It is important to understand

that electric cars do emit less carbon dioxide but let’s not forget that while that statement is true

the other negative effects on our environment are not being disclosed and that concludes that as

of right now electric cars are advertised for more benefits than they provide by their companies
and it is not for the greater good of our environment rather it is for the sole benefit and profit of

these companies.

I firmly believe that electric cars are actually beneficial for our environment and that the

benefits do indeed outweigh the negatives. I believe that it is better for our environment and that

electric cars do reduce our carbon footprint. It is important not to forget the fact that the

manufacturing of those cars create waste and toxins but so do the ones for gasoline powered cars.

I believe that electric cars are great and have a great potential for the future and the advantages

are yet to come but there definitely can be many things that we can improve on. Like mentioned

in the article by Morfeldt if we decrease the size of batteries it would be more beneficial not only

for the manufacturer but also our environment since it would be creating less toxic waste. So if

we reduce the size of batteries, make all the charging stations use green energy only and decrease

the general toxic waste from the manufacturing process then we can significantly reduce not only

our carbon footprint but also all the other harm that we have caused to our environment by the

manufacturing process and the creation of toxic chemicals and waste.

Agresti, J. (2022). Electric cars are not “Zero-emission vehicles”. Arlington Heights: Newstex.

Retrievedfromhttps://csumb.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs-pod

casts-websites/electric-cars-are-not-zero-emission-vehicles/docview/2710987627/se-2

Madichetty, S., Mishra, S., Basu, M.: New trends in electric motors and selection for electric

vehicle propulsion systems. IET. Electr. Syst. Transp. 11( 3), 186– 199 (2021).

https://doi-org.csumb.idm.oclc.org/10.1049/els2.12018

Morfeldt, J., Shoman, W., Johansson, D. J. A., Yeh, S., & Karlsson, S. (2022). If electric cars are

good for reducing emissions, they could be even better with electric roads.

Environmental

Science & Technology, 56(13), 9593-9603. doi:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c00018

Peters, D. R., Schnell, J. L., Kinney, P. L., Naik, V., & Horton, D. E. (2020). Public

Health and Climate Benefits and Trade-Offs of U.S. Vehicle Electrification.

GeoHealth, 4(10), e2020GH000275. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GH000275

Sobol, Ł., & Dyjakon, A. (2020). The influence of power sources for charging the batteries of

electric cars on CO0RW1S34RfeSDcfkexd09rT421RW1S34RfeSDcfkexd09rT4

emissions during daily driving: A case study from poland. Energies, 13(16), 4267.

doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/en13164267

2020 impact report (no date) Tesla. Available at: https://www.tesla.com/impact-report/2020

(Accessed: October 9, 2022).