Improved environmental performance

Of course, the electric car won’t save the planet. It remains an individual means of transportation that doesn’t compare to public transportation and biking. The electric car is not "ecological" either: there are still production issues to be addressed.

But the fact remains that compared to a gasoline or diesel vehicle, an electric vehicle represents a real solution to decarbonize transportation... and even more so in Quebec.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

To compare an EV to a gasoline vehicle, we use the “Life Cycle Assessment” (LCA) which compares the vehicle’s various impacts over its entire lifespan, from mineral extraction to final recycling, including manufacturing, transportation and the energy that powers the vehicle.

The impact of the electric car, compared to the gasoline car, is always measured by taking into account the vehicle’s longevity and use.

Consequently, a 2016 CIRAIG study showed that after 300,000 km, the EV’s impacts were up to 80% lower in four areas: human health, quality of ecosystems, climate change and depletion of fossil resources.

NOTE: The CIRAIG study did not take into account the additional impact reduction that the circular industry will allow thanks to the recycling of batteries.

Other recent studies point in the same direction

TThe vast majority of scientific studies support electrifying transportation. For more information, you can consult three of the most enlightening resources on the subject:

• Gasoline versus electric cars? Here’s how their life cycle emissions compare in Canada : detailed article written by analyst Barry Saxifrage of the Canada's National Observer. A comparative analysis of the impacts on the fight against climate change of the electric car, between Canadian provinces.
• A global comparison of the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of combustion engine and electric passenger cars (ICCT), 2021 : very comprehensive article that compares vehicle emissions with all available forms of energy and world region, in Europe, the United States, China and India. This analysis also balances the foreseeable evolution of the various energy productions until 2030.
• CarbonCounter (MIT) 2021: tool developed by MIT to compare the environmental footprint of different models of electric vehicles. All parameters are adjustable and documented.
• Hoekstra, A. The Underestimated Potential of Battery Electric Vehicles to Reduce Emissions. Joule, Volume 3, Issue 6, 19 June 2019: article on the underestimated potential of electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Knobloch, F., Hanssen, S., Lam, A. et al. Net emission reductions from electric cars and heat pumps in 59 world regions over time. Nat Sustain 3, 437–447 (2020) : article which analyzes the impact of electrifying transportation and the use of "heat pumps" (for heating and air conditioning) around the world, in relation to the announced decarbonization of electricity production..

Electric vehicles that are getting cleaner and cleaner

The electric car’s track record continues to improve:

• Increased sales are driving the opening of more efficient battery factories. For each kilometer of electric range, battery manufacturing emits two to three times less GHGs than five years ago.
• The critical and polluting materials needed to manufacture battery components are being used less and less.
• The circular industry of recycling batteries is just beginning and tomorrow's electric vehicle batteries will have an even smaller environmental impact, since they will be partly made using batteries from today's vehicles.
• Advancements in electrical production are also inevitable and they will be implemented almost everywhere in the world as of this decade. The decarbonization of electrical power could even benefit electric vehicles being manufactured today

Gasoline vehicles are getting increasingly dirty

Today, manufacturing a gasoline-powered car has a smaller impact than producing an electric vehicle. But the trend has been reversed in recent years as gasoline-powered cars become more efficient through increased hybridization (with electric motors and batteries) and the use of light metals and composite materials.

More importantly, the gasoline that powers vehicles is becoming dirtier. The share of conventional oil (the kind that bubbles up from the earth on its own) is becoming scarcer as new deposits become increasingly rare. The "peak" of conventional oil is said to have been reached in 2016 and 2018. We are now entering the era of non-conventional oil: "shale oil" and "tar sands", which are very polluting to produce. In Quebec, 100% of the oil that fuels our cars comes from the tar sands of Alberta and from shale oil wells in the United States and Western Canada.

The EV battery and its end of life

TElectric car batteries have a long lifespan: 200,000 to 500,000 km. Manufacturers generally offer an 8-year or 160,000 km warranty.

The circular industry of recycling batteries is just starting and the batteries of tomorrow's electric vehicles will have even smaller environmental impact, since they will be partly made using batteries from today's vehicles. At the end of their lifespan, batteries can be reused for energy storage purposes. The Quebec company Recyclage Lithion has developed an efficient process to recycle lithium-ion batteries, which should be operational soon.

All the details are here (hyperlink to secondary page)

Christine Beaulieu investigates: Can we recycle electric car batteries? (in French).

The source of energy to recharge the battery

In Quebec, 99.7% of our electricity is produced from renewable sources that do not emit greenhouse gases, which is an advantage compared to other parts of the world where electricity is produced from fossil fuels. It should be noted that globally, the trend is towards a decarbonization of energy sources.