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> The manufacturing of a car is responsible for a very significant amount of the emissions it produces over its life. Nope. The embedded energy in manufacturi
by floatrock 5y ago
> The manufacturing of a car is responsible for a very significant amount of the emissions it produces over its life.
Nope.
The embedded energy in manufacturing a gasoline car is maybe 1/8th or 1/10th its total lifetime emissions. This is why EV's are so much better cradle-to-grave than gasoline cars -- yes, EV's require extra energy to manufacture the batteries relative to a gasoline car, but even so, that extra energy cost is more than offset within the first few months of electricity-powered driving, even if your local grid is primarily coal powered. By far most of a car's lifetime emissions are from operating it, not manufacturing it.
See chart on page 3 of this Union of Concerned Scientists report: https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/Cleaner-Cars-from-Cradle-to-Grave-full-report.pdf https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/Cl...
- notriddle 5y agoDoes anyone make a driverless car that isn’t a hybrid or an EV?
- floatrock 5y agoEV's are better than fossil cars, but they too have most of their emissions in operation rather than manufacturing. So the significant question isn't "will driverless lead to fewer emissions because of fewer cars", the significant question is "will (electric) driverless lead to fewer emissions because of fewer miles driven?" It's no question that electric is more efficient on emissions per mile, but if the number of trip-miles increases because driverless cars eg are constantly circling the downtown waiting for passengers, or they make more low-occupancy trips possible so they induce demand of low-occupancy miles, well it could be worse emissions wise!