A Tesla Model 3’s CO2 emissions is equal to 1.4 years of driving a Gas-powered Sedan

A friend sent us some information about the CO2 emissions of all electric vehicles (EVs) compared to the CO2 emissions of a gasoline powered internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

We wanted to see which type of vehicle emitted the most CO2, you know that greenhouse gas that the EPA wants to eliminate.

First, we wanted to know if CO2 was really harmful or not. Here’s what we found.

Kevin Mooney in his column “Group Defends Carbon Dioxide as ‘Elixir of Life’ in Climate Change Debate” wrote,

Forget everything government officials, many media outlets, and “activist scientists” have warned about the damaging effects of carbon dioxide, because in reality there’s no cause for alarm, a group called the CO2 Coalition urges…“Atmospheric CO2 is not a pollutant, it is in fact the very elixir of life,” Craig Idso, a science adviser to the CO2 Coalition, said during a panel discussion at CPAC exploring the benefits attached to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

So the more CO2 the better right?

Well for you lovers of Tesla EVs you will be happy to learn that your EV emits more CO2 than an internal combustion engine gasoline powered vehicle.

POLITIFACT reported:

Full electric vehicles require a large lithium-ion battery to store energy and power the motor that propels the car, according to Insider. The lithium-ion battery packs in an electric car are chemically similar to the ones found in cell phones and laptops.

Because they require a mix of metals that need to be extracted and refined, lithium-ion batteries take more energy to produce than the common lead-acid batteries used in gasoline cars to help start the engine.

How much CO2 is emitted in the production depends on where the lithium-ion battery is made — or specifically, how the electricity powering the factory is generated — according to Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist and director of climate and energy at the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental research think tank.

Producing a 75 kilowatt-hour battery for a Tesla Model 3, considered on the larger end of batteries for electric vehicles, would result in the emission of 4,500 kilograms of CO2 if it was made at Tesla’s battery factory in Nevada. That’s the emissions equivalent to driving a gas-powered sedan for 1.4 years, at a yearly average distance of 12,000 miles, Hausfather said.

If the battery were made in Asia, manufacturing it would produce 7,500 kg of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of driving a gasoline-powered sedan for 2.4 years… Hausfather said the larger emission amount in Asia can be attributed to its “higher carbon electricity mix.” The continent relies more on coal for energy production, while Tesla’s Nevada factory uses some solar energy.

The EPA on its website states, “A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. This number can vary based on a vehicle’s fuel, fuel economy, and the number of miles driven per year. ”

This is also good. Why?

Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore testified before the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee on February 25, 2014. During his statement for the record Dr. Moore said:

‘There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years.

So there you have it. Drive your ICE or EV as much as you like and you won’t impact the climate in any way.

Good news indeed.

P.S. John Casey, author and former NASA rocket scientist, has taught us three absolutes about the climate:

1. The climate changes.
2. The changes are cyclical.
3. There is nothing mankind can do to change these natural cycles.

As John notes the only thing that mankind can do is prepare for these changes using good science and the best climate prediction tools to warn us of the coming changes.

End of story. Let the real science begin!

©Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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