Curiosity got the better of me, so I did a quick google on how much CO2 is emitted per kWh of battery production.
Quote:
studies indicate that battery production is associated with
56 to 494 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of battery capacity
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https://theicct.org/sites/default/fi...9022018_vF.pdf
Taking the median (219 kilograms) of this range of estimates, and assuming an EV has an 80 kWh battery, that would be 17,520 kilograms of CO2.
Burning a gallon of gasoline emits about 8.88 kg.
Building the 80 kWh battery is equivalent to burning 1,972 gallons of gasoline. In a 30 MPG car, that would get you 60,000 miles.
Above, I had recalled seeing a 60k mile break-even somewhere, and this seems to agree with the figures above. I honestly used the first link I came across for CO2 emissions in battery manufacturing, and assumed 80 kWh as an average battery size given some trucks are coming with 200 kWh, but some cars have as small as 40.
This isn't the full picture though, because EVs are not zero emission. Fossil fuels account for 60% of US electricity generation.
Perhaps the actual CO2 emissions to manufacture batteries are on the lower end of the range rather than the median I used. Still, combined with the fact that most electricity is generated from burning fossil fuels, we're still probably looking at about 60,000 miles as a break-even. Not likely to travel that many miles in 1.5-2 years, especially since the average annual miles EVs are driven is 7,000 (compare that with 10-12k for ICE).
None of this is an argument against EVs though, because after the break-even, the EV emits less CO2 for the remainder of the life of the vehicle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Truth is dependent on your starting assumptions.
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Truth is the set of things that manifest. Fiction is the set of things that do not.
Then there's the strange things like metaphorical truth, or directional truth. They still attempt to head in the direction of things that have or will manifest.
Observation of truth utilizes an infinite spectrum of resolution.