Size matters when it comes to sustainable EVs
As electric vehicles gain in popularity, the EV market has broadened out to offer larger vehicles with greater range and performance. This has meant a simultaneous increase in the size of the batteries needed to power these larger models.
Unfortunately, when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, huge EV batteries present a problem.
A recent scientific article* by Perry Gottesfeld, the Executive Director of non-profit public health organisation Occupational Knowledge International, has drawn attention to this issue. Published in the journal PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, the article reports that lithium-ion batteries in the most popular EVs have increased in weight by 68% over the past five years, with batteries in the top 10 EV models sold now weighing an average of 595 kg.
The largest model now on the market, the GMC Hummer EV, has a battery weighing 1326 kg, making it heavier than many conventional cars and even the entire Fiat 500e electric vehicle.
Gottesfeld also presents the startling finding that the combined weight of all the batteries in the top 10 EV models sold in the US in 2023 is approximately 1.5 times the weight of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. That’s 884,476 vehicles with a total battery weight of 561,065 MT. Sales of the top 10 models in the US in 2023 account for approximately 74% of all EVs sold there.
The trend is not limited to the US, Gottesfeld notes, with more than half of the EV models available in China, Germany, France and the UK in recent years being SUVs or large cars.
The mass of these batteries poses a significant challenge for future waste processing and hazardous waste disposal given the existing limitations of recycling technologies.
Making matters worse, larger EVs require approximately 75% more critical minerals to produce than small electric cars and their CO2 emissions from mineral processing, manufacturing and assembly are 70% greater. The trend to larger batteries may also delay efforts to decarbonise the electricity grid as they require much greater energy consumption.
The growing size of EVs and their batteries is reversing the potential environmental gains from adopting this technology. According to Gottesfeld, there isn’t a realistic economic model for fully recycling these batteries to make new lithium-ion batteries as is the practice for recycling paper, aluminium or glass waste.
“Not all EVs are making a positive contribution to environmental sustainability and we need to better inform consumers to select vehicles that actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Gottesfeld said.
In his article, Gottesfeld concludes that improved public policy, incentives and messaging are needed to drive consumer demand to smaller EVs to reduce carbon emissions and yield environmental sustainability benefits. Government subsidies and tax incentives should be better aligned to account for greenhouse gas emissions over the vehicle lifecycle.
*https://journals.plos.org/sustainabilitytransformation/article?id=10.1371/journal.pstr.0000159
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