Environment

Are electric cars ‘green’? The answer is yes, but it’s complicated

Published

4 years ago

July 26, 2021

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An electric vehicle charging point in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

Nathan Stirk | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The number of electric vehicles on the world’s roads is surging, hitting a record number last year.

That would seem to be good news, as the world tries to wean itself off fossil fuels that are wrecking the global climate. But as electric cars become more popular, some question just how environmentally friendly they are.

The batteries in electric vehicles, for example, charge on power that is coming straight off the electric grid — which is itself often powered by fossil fuels. And there are questions about how energy-intensive it is to build an EV or an EV battery, versus building a comparable traditional vehicle.

Are electric vehicles greener?

The short answer is yes — but their full green potential is still many years away.

Experts broadly agree that electric vehicles create a lower carbon footprint over the course of their lifetime than do cars and trucks that use traditional, internal combustion engines.

Last year, researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Nijmegen in The Netherlands found that in 95% of the world, driving an electric car is better for the environment than driving a gasoline-powered car.

Electricity grids in most of the world are still powered by fossil fuels such as coal or oil, and EVs depend on that energy to get charged. Separately, EV battery production remains an energy-intensive process.

Producing electric vehicles leads to significantly more emissions than producing petrol cars … which is mostly from the battery production.

Florian Knobloch

Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance

A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative found that the battery and fuel production for an EV generates higher emissions than the manufacturing of an automobile. But those higher environmental costs are offset by EVs’ superior energy efficiency over time.

In short, the total emissions per mile for battery-powered cars are lower than comparable cars with internal combustion engines.

“If we are going to take a look at the current situation, in some countries, electric vehicles are better even with the current grid,” Sergey Paltsev, a senior research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative and one of the study’s authors, told CNBC.

Paltsev explained that the full benefits of EVs will be realized only after the electricity sources become renewable, and it might take several decades for that to happen.

Batteries are the biggest emitter

EVs rely on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to run. The process of making those batteries — from using mining raw materials like cobalt and lithium, to production in gigafactories and transportation — is energy-intensive, and one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions from EVs today, experts said.

Gigafactories are facilities that produce EV batteries on a large scale.

“Producing electric vehicles leads to significantly more emissions than producing petrol cars. Depending on the country of production, that’s between 30% to 40% extra in production emissions, which is mostly from the battery production,” said Florian Knobloch, a fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance.

Those higher production emission numbers are seen as “an initial investment, which pays off rather quickly due to the reduced lifetime emissions.”

China currently dominates battery production, with 93 gigafactories producing lithium-ion battery cells versus only four in the U.S., the Washington Post reported this year.

“I think the battery is the most complicated component in the EV, and has the most complex supply chain,” George Crabtree, director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, told CNBC, adding that the energy source used in battery production makes a huge difference on the carbon footprint for EVs.

Batteries made in older gigafactories in China are usually powered by fossil fuels, because that was the trend five to 10 years ago, he explained. So, EVs that are built with batteries from existing factories

But that’s changing, he said, as “people have realized that’s a huge carbon footprint.”

Experts pointed to other considerations around battery production.

They include unethical and environmentally unsustainable mining practices, as well as a complex geopolitical nature of the supply chain, where countries do not want to rely on other nations for raw materials like cobalt and lithium, or the finished batteries.

Mining raw materials needed for battery production will likely be the last to get decarbonized, according to Crabtree.

Recycling and decarbonizing the grid

Today, very few of the spent battery cells are recycled.

Experts said that can change over time as raw materials needed for battery production are in limited supply, leaving firms with no choice but to recycle.

McKinsey’s Hannon outlined other reasons for companies to step by their recycling efforts. They include a regulatory environment where producers, by law, would have to deal with spent batteries — and disposing them could be more expensive.

“People who point to a lack of a recycling infrastructure as a problem aren’t recognizing that we don’t need extensive recycling infrastructure yet because the cars are so new, we’re not needing many back,” he said.

Most auto companies are already working to ensure they have significant recycling capacity in place before EVs start reaching the end of life over the next decade, he added.

It’s not silver bullet for climate change mitigation. Ideally, you also try to reduce the number of cars massively, and try to push things such as public transport

Florian Knobloch

Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance

Knobloch from Cambridge University said a lot of research is going into improving battery technology, to make them more environmentally sustainable and less reliant on scarce raw materials. More efforts are also needed in decarbonizing the electricity grid, he added.

“It’s very important that more renewable electricity generation capacity is added to the grid each year, than coal generation capacity,” Knobloch said.

“Nowadays, it’s much easier to build large scale solar or offshore wind compared to building new fossil fuel power plant. What we see is more renewable electricity coming into the grid all over the world.”

Still, he pointed out that generating electricity by using renewable sources will still emit greenhouse gases as there are emissions from producing the solar panels and wind turbines. “What we look at is how long will it take until the electricity grid is sufficiently decarbonized so that you see large benefit from electric vehicles,” Knobloch added.

Policies needed for societal change

Experts agree that a transition from gasoline-powered cars to EVs is not a panacea for the global fight against climate change.

It needs to go hand-in-hand with societal change that promotes greater use of public transportation and alternative modes of travel, including bicycles and walking.

Reducing the use of private vehicles requires plenty of funding and policy planning.

MIT’s Paltsev, who is also deputy director at the university’s joint program on the science and policy of global change, explained that there are currently about 1.2 billion fuel-powered cars on the road globally –that number is expected to increase to between 1.8 billion to 2 billion.

In comparison, there are only about 10 million electric vehicles currently.

People underestimate how many new cars have to be produced and how much materials will be needed to produce those electric vehicles, Paltsev said.

The International Energy Agency predicts that the number of electric cars, buses, vans and heavy trucks on roads is expected to hit 145 million by 2030.

Even if everyone drove EVs instead of gasoline-powered cars, there would still be plenty of emissions from the plug-in vehicles due to their sheer volume, according to Knobloch.

“So, it’s not silver bullet for climate change mitigation. Ideally, you also try to reduce the number of cars massively, and try to push things such as public transport,” he said. “Getting people away from individual car transport is as important.”

Environment

The Lexus LFA is back, and this time it’s 100% electric

Published

1 hour ago

December 5, 2025

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The Lexus LFA is back, and this time it's 100% electric

Lexus is bringing the sports car back, but this time the LFA will be fully electric and will be developed alongside the Toyota GR GT and GR GT3. Here’s our first look at the EV sports car.

Meet the electric Lexus LFA Concept

The LFA is making a comeback as a low-slung, fully electric supercar. Lexus unveiled the new LFA Concept on Friday, calling it a next-generation battery-electric (BEV) sports car.

Lexus said the LFA name “embodies the technologies that engineers of its time should preserve,” adding it’s “not bound to vehicles powered by internal combustion engines.”

The electric LFA is being developed alongside the Toyota GR GT and GR GT3 race cars. Although it will share core technology and other components, including the GR GT’s all-aluminum frame, the new LFA will arrive with a unique design and advanced interior thanks to its electric powertrain.

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Inside, the EV sports car features a yoke-style steering wheel, first showcased on the RZ electric SUV. The minimalist design is intended to create “a uniquely immersive environment,” according to Lexus.

At 184.6″ long, 80.3″ wide, and 47″ tall with a wheelbase of 107.3″, the electric Lexus LFA concept is about the size of many modern-day supercars, including the Aston Martin DB12 and Ferrari Roma.

The LFA EV will be centered on three key elements, shared with the GR GT, including a low center of gravity, a light but sturdy frame, and optimized aerodynamics.

Lexus has yet to reveal full details, aside from confirming the new LFA will be fully electric. With Toyota claiming it plans to launch its first solid-state battery in a high-performance vehicle by 2027, will the Lexus LFA be the one to debut it? We will find out more shortly.

While the new Lexus LFA is surprisingly an EV, Toyota is sticking to its roots with the GR GT, which will be equipped with a hybrid system that still uses a 4.0-liter V8 twin-turbo engine and a single electric motor.

Toyota announced similar plans to continue launching gas-powered vehicles under its new ultra-luxury Century brand.

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Environment

Tesla launches ‘Standard’ Model 3/Y in Europe with aggressive pricing to stop bleeding sales

Published

2 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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Tesla launches 'Standard' Model 3/Y in Europe with aggressive pricing to stop bleeding sales

Tesla has officially launched new “Standard” trims for both the Model 3 and Model Y in Europe after launching them in North America. The automaker is aggressively positioning these stripped-down models to undercut competitors and arrest a painful sales slump in the region, with the Model 3 now starting at an impressive €36,990 in Germany.

As we reported recently, Tesla is facing a tough quarter in Europe. Registration data from November showed sales down 12.3% year-over-year, but the reality is even starker: if you exclude Norway, which is soaring due to incentives going away at the end of the year, Tesla’s sales in the rest of Europe have plummeted by over 36%.

To counter this, Tesla updated its online configurator today with these new entry-level options that significantly lower the barrier to entry, albeit with some notable compromises in features.

The Model 3 Standard: breaking the €37k barrier

The new Model 3 Standard is priced at €36,990 in Germany, France, and Italy. This is a massive psychological breach of the €37,000 mark, putting it well within swinging distance of mass-market ICE vehicles and undercutting key electric rivals.

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In the Nordic markets, the pricing is equally aggressive:

Norway: NOK 330,056
Sweden: SEK 449,990

Despite the lower price, the specs remain impressive. The Model 3 Standard is rated at 534 km (332 miles) of WLTP range. It achieves 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.2 seconds.

Priced significantly lower than the next cheapest Model 3, like in North America, the new Model 3 Standard is a much better offer than the Model Y Standard,

The Model Y Standard: a tougher sell

The Model Y also gets the “Standard” treatment. It is now listed at €39,990 in the main European markets.

Tesla lists the Model Y Standard with the same 534 km WLTP range as the Model 3 Standard.

Like in North America, the proposition here is not as attractive as with the Model 3 Standard. It is closer in price to the ‘Premium’ version and, on top of losing almost 100 km of range, the Standard version comes with many fewer features.

De-contenting: What do you lose?

To hit these price points, Tesla had to cut costs. We are seeing a new level of “de-contenting” that is new for the brand. Tesla has always been known to cut costs aggressively and remove features it deemed not useful, but in this case, it cut things close to the bone.

Here is what is gone compared to the Premium/Long Range trims:

Seats: The full vegan leather is replaced by “partially textile seats”.
Rear Screen: The 8-inch rear display introduced with the Highland refresh has been removed.
Comfort: Heated rear seats are no longer included.
Audio: The system is downgraded to 7 speakers, removing the subwoofer and amplifiers.
Wheels: The alloy wheels are gone, replaced by steel wheels with plastic aero covers.

That’s on top of the more obvious exterior changes, such as removing the light bars, updating the front end, and losing the panoramic roof.

The Competition

This move puts Tesla in a fiercely competitive position against the influx of Chinese EVs and legacy European automakers.

Volkswagen: The VW ID.3 Pure has recently seen price cuts bringing it to around €29,760 in Germany with bonuses, but the Model 3 offers significantly more range and space. The ID.4 Pure, a direct Model Y competitor, sits around €40,335 , making the Model Y Standard slightly cheaper and arguably better specced in terms of software and charging network.
BYD: The Chinese auto giant is Tesla’s main headache right now. The BYD Atto 3 is priced at €37,990 in Germany. The Model 3 Standard now undercuts it by €1,000, while the Model Y is only €2,000 more expensive for a much larger vehicle.
Volvo: The successful EX30 starts around €36,000–€39,000 depending on the market. Tesla could threaten the higher end of the demand for this one.

As you can see, there’s some room for Tesla to work.

Electrek’s Take

There is no denying that Tesla is hurting in Europe. We always said that this was due to a combination of a stale lineup facing increased competition and what we’ve called “brand toxicity” stemming from Elon Musk’s political activism.

I’m actually a fan of the “Standard”/ de-contenting idea in the sense that it offers more options. Not everyone needs a rear screen or heated seats in the back.

However, I do worry about the value proposition, especially with the Model Y. The Model 3 makes a lot more sense to me.

I think this should help Tesla in Europe. It could stop the bleeding and help Tesla form a bottom in Europe.

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Environment

Meet the Kia Vision Meta Turismo: Could this be the EV8? [Images]

Published

3 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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Meet the Kia Vision Meta Turismo: Could this be the EV8? [Images]

Kia is celebrating its 80th birthday with a bang. The new Kia Vision Turismo concept offers a glimpse of what will likely arrive as the EV8. Here’s our first look at it.

The Vision Meta Turismo is more than a concept car. It’s “Kia’s vision for a new era of mobility,” and what will likely become the EV8.

Kia unveiled the futuristic concept car during an event in Korea on Friday, celebrating the brand’s 80th anniversary.

Several high-profile executives were in attendance, including Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Euisun Chung and Kia’s president and CEO, Ho Sung Song.

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The Vision Meta Turismo concept pays homage to the 1960s era of long-distance touring, blended with Kia’s bold “Opposites United” design theme showcased on its latest electric vehicles, such as the new EV4, EV5, and EV6.

Although details are still pretty slim at this point, the concept car is expected to fill the EV7 or EV8 spot when it arrives in production form.

The low-riding GT looks like an electric successor to the Stinger, similar to the Polestar 5, with a sporty silhouette and aggressive front end.

Inside, the Kia Vision Meta Turismo offers a “lounge-inspired interior” with futuristic digital tech, unique design elements, and a spacious layout.

The yoke-style steering wheel “reimagines the next-generation intuitive driving interface,” Kia said. It’s equipped with three different digital modes: Speedster, Dreamer, and Gamer, which use an AR Head-Up Display (HUD) to create an immersive, personalized driving experience.

Featuring smart glass that’s integrated into the vehicle, the AR HUD projects graphics in front of the driver “as if they are floating above the road in three dimensions.”

Given Kia has already confirmed plans to cover nearly all segments, from the EV1 to the EV9, the concept is expected to be named either the EV7 or EV8 when it launches.