Are Electric Cars Really More Sustainable Than Combustion Cars?

Written by Rafaela Fabris

Published on 05/06/2024 at 15:53

A discussão sobre qual carro polui mais, o carro elétrico ou o carro à combustão, está cada vez mais presente. Vamos analisar se os carros elétricos realmente produzem menos emissões de carbono que os carros à combustão. Imagem: GasTroll/Divulgação

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The Discussion About Which Car Pollutes More, The Electric Car or The Combustion Car, Is Becoming Increasingly Relevant. Let’s Analyze If Electric Cars Really Produce Less Carbon Emissions Than Combustion Cars.

Many believe that the production process of electric cars, especially the mining of metals for batteries, causes more harm to the environment than combustion engines. However, the issue is more complex and involves several factors, from production to vehicle use.

The gasoline we use in combustion cars starts with oil extraction, which consumes a huge amount of energy. In the United States, for example, there are about 435,000 oil wells that use suction pumps, consuming more than 4,300 gigawatt-hours of electricity per month. This would be enough to power 15 million electric vehicles in the same period.

Offshore Drilling Uses Diesel Generators That Consume Large Amounts of Fuel

It is estimated that offshore oil platforms use over 13 billion kilowatt-hours of energy per month, enough to power 70 million electric vehicles. The extracted oil needs to be transported to refineries, using pipelines that consume even more energy. There are over 540,000 kilometers of pipelines in the world, along with maritime transport, which is one of the largest sources of pollution on the planet, emitting about 1 billion tons of CO2 per year.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

The Internal Combustion Engines of Combustion Cars Are Extremely Inefficient, Wasting About 70% of Energy as Heat

In comparison, electric cars are more efficient, as electricity can be produced in a cleaner way and used directly to power the vehicles.

Although lithium mining for electric car batteries also has an environmental impact, it is much lower compared to the complete lifecycle of fossil fuels. For example, Australia, which produces 50% of the world’s lithium, faces more pollution from oil refineries than from lithium mining.

Electric Car Batteries Can Be Recycled or Reused as Energy Storage Systems, Further Reducing the Environmental Impact

After their useful life, batteries can be disassembled to recover valuable metals and used in new batteries. Considering all aspects, from extraction to end use, electric cars are more sustainable and cause less harm to the environment than combustion cars. The transition to electric vehicles can be an important step toward a cleaner and more sustainable future.

2 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

Laura Silva

#11142

06/06/2024 16:56

Se você busca um veículo sustentável e silencioso, o carro elétrico pode ser a melhor opção

Respond

Bruno Campos Menezes

#11093

06/06/2024 12:48

Carro a combustão é uma tecnologia de século passado, já estamos entrando numa nova era , e mesmo os mais tecnológicos tem sua eficiência inferior a 70%, o que faz com que 30% ou mais seja desperdiçado de sua queima além de trazer danos ao meio ambiente quantidade de peças necessárias manutenção e autonomia atrelada a um ciclo vicioso que afeta a economia de qualquer país , já dependemos hoje do transporte para qualquer coisa que exige a logística

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Are Electric Cars Really More Sustainable Than Combustion Cars?

The Discussion About Which Car Pollutes More, The Electric Car or The Combustion Car, Is Becoming Increasingly Relevant. Let’s Analyze If Electric Cars Really Produce Less Carbon Emissions Than Combustion Cars.

Offshore Drilling Uses Diesel Generators That Consume Large Amounts of Fuel

The Internal Combustion Engines of Combustion Cars Are Extremely Inefficient, Wasting About 70% of Energy as Heat

Electric Car Batteries Can Be Recycled or Reused as Energy Storage Systems, Further Reducing the Environmental Impact

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Are Electric Cars Really More Sustainable Than Combustion Cars?

The Discussion About Which Car Pollutes More, The Electric Car or The Combustion Car, Is Becoming Increasingly Relevant. Let’s Analyze If Electric Cars Really Produce Less Carbon Emissions Than Combustion Cars.

Offshore Drilling Uses Diesel Generators That Consume Large Amounts of Fuel

The Internal Combustion Engines of Combustion Cars Are Extremely Inefficient, Wasting About 70% of Energy as Heat

Electric Car Batteries Can Be Recycled or Reused as Energy Storage Systems, Further Reducing the Environmental Impact

In the cold desert of Ladakh, where it hardly rains, engineer Sonam Wangchuk created the ice stupa, a tower that freezes winter water and stores it for irrigating crops in the spring, a simple engineering feat that mimics nature.

Libya built over 4,000 kilometers of underground pipelines to bring water from the Sahara to coastal cities in a project that the government itself called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Almost 6,000 residents live concentrated along a single street nearly 9 km long in the interior of Poland. Houses form a continuous row, and behind them, narrow agricultural strips emerge, creating one of the most unusual rural patterns in Europe.

Chinese woman planted trees for decades while sand buried part of her house, received $5,000 from an American in 1999, and helped transform the desert into a forest of 8 million trees in China.

Desert sand, previously discarded for being too smooth for concrete, becomes an ecological brick in the United Arab Emirates, dispensing with Portland cement, curing at room temperature, and attempting to transform dunes useless for construction into raw material for a new arid engineering.

Described by astronauts as one of the most unlikely natural phenomena on Earth, the Okavango Delta spreads over up to 15,000 square kilometers in the middle of the desert and transforms Botswana into a living labyrinth of channels, islands, and flooded areas.

Two helicopters, 41 people, and over 38 tons of bait were mobilized on a remote Pacific atoll to eliminate rats; five years later, native trees grew by 5,000%, seabirds gained habitat, and the rainforest began to regenerate.

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