Researchers who study the emissions of electric versus gasoline vehicles have gotten used to the occasional flare-up of the idea—often framed in a misleading way—that EVs are harmful because of emissions tied to mining and manufacturing of the cars.
“Sadly, keeping your old petrol car may be better than buying an EV,” he wrote.
“There are sound environmental reasons not to jump just yet.”
His conclusion is frustrating for people who do research on EVs and emissions because it is a familiar trope of fossil-fuel aligned groups that have a financial interest in slowing the transition to EVs, and it’s based on a misleading view of the data.
While it is correct to say that the production of an EV has higher emissions than that of a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, an EV makes up for that difference several times over by having much lower emissions during its time on the road.
EVs even have an edge in places like Poland that rely heavily on fossil fuels to generate electricity.
