Electric vehicles: Difference between revisions

From the change wiki
(Created page with "Most road vehicles currently run on gasoline or diesel fuel, which cause climate change. One ''possible solution'' is to make vehicles electric. This comes with new challenges that aren't solved yet. ==Generating enough electricity== The vehicles would add an extra load on the power grid. ''How much'' electricity depends on whether the vehicles run on batteries or fuel cells. See this chart. The world ''already'' struggles to generate enough electricit...")
 
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
Most road vehicles currently run on gasoline or diesel fuel, which cause [[climate change]]. One ''possible solution'' is to make vehicles electric. This comes with new challenges that aren't solved yet.
[[File:ghg-pie-chart.png|thumb]]
'''Problem:''' Most vehicles today run on gasoline, diesel, or other [[fossil fuels]] that cause [[climate change]].
{{minor|About 16% of the world's [[GHG]] emissions are due to vehicles.}}


==Generating enough electricity==
'''''Possible'' solution:''' Make vehicles electric. But this comes with some serious challenges that must be dealt with first, before electric vehicles (EVs) can be mass-produced enough to actually make a difference for the planet.


The vehicles would add an extra load on the power grid. ''How much'' electricity depends on whether the vehicles run on batteries or fuel cells. See [[/energy|this chart]].
{{considerations}}


The world ''already'' struggles to generate enough electricity without using [[fossil fuels]]. If ''coal'' or ''natural gas'' power plants are used for charging vehicles, there is [[/fossil fuel powered|almost no net benefit to the environment]].
==Status quo==
* Only about 1% of vehicles on the road today are electric.


[[Solar]], [[wind]], and [[nuclear]] all show potential to produce enough [[energy]] - but '''''only''''' if the right innovations happen.
==Types of EVs==
By type of [[energy storage]]:
* Battery electric vehicles (most common EVs today)
* [[Fuel cell vehicles]] (very few models on the market today)


[[Hydro]] and [[geothermal]] are viable solutions in '''''some''''' parts of the world.


==Manufacturing enough energy storage==
By type of vehicle:
* Passenger
** [[Electric cars]], vans and pickup trucks
** [[Electric buses]] (city and intercity)
** [[Electric planes]] (not in use, except experimentally)
* Freight
** [[Electric trucks]] (semi trucks / freight trucks)


There are a few ways to store energy in vehicles:
==Considerations==
* Batteries, such as [[lithium ion]]
===Battery minerals===
* [[Hydrogen gas]] connected to a [[fuel cell vehicles|fuel cell]]
{{sum|Major problem|bad}}
The batteries in today's EVs contain large amounts of metals that are too scarce. This makes EVs expensive and unscalable.


Both are currently ''not viable'' on a large scale, due to needing too many ''rare metals''. See each page for details.
More specifically:
* Almost all of today's EVs use [[lithium-ion batteries]] that are made of nickel, cobalt, manganese and of course lithium.
** '''Cobalt''' is the biggest issue: it's scarce, ''and'' its production involves child labor.


Other battery tech may be promising - especially [[sodium-sulfur batteries]].{{rn}}<!-- TALK: need to decide on a standard for the wikipage title of each battery type -->
* [[Hydrogen]] [[fuel cell vehicles]] are based in '''platinum'''-group metals (PGMs), which are also scarce.
 
With either of these technologies, if we want to make all cars electric, there simply aren't enough minerals available to be mined from the Earth. We need to use some other type of [[energy storage]] instead. This involves tradeoffs.
 
====Possible solutions====
* [[Sodium-ion batteries]]
** not available on the market yet
** could potentially be built with only abundant materials
 
* [[LFP batteries]]
** available on the market
** cobalt-free, but still based in lithium
*** {{minor|in other words, more scalable but still not as scalable as we'd like.}}
 
The main problem with these types of batteries is that they hold less of a charge - in other words, the vehicle would have [[short-range EVs|less range]]. But at least it would be more affordable.{{qn}} In the case of electric cars, this compromise might actually be fine if the average buyer is okay with it.
 
{{minor|Every once and awhile there's some news article about some company researching / developing / investing in some battery type that will supposedly be as energy-dense as lithium-ion. But there's no guarantee it'll happen in the near future, and if it does, it'll probably be expensive.}}
 
<!-- TALK:
* Maybe refactor this to either be a table or have 1 heading for each energy storage candidate. That way, other things like [[lead-acid]] batteries can be mentioned. Or don't; just have a full table on the [[energy storage]] page.
* I want to make a bolder tl;dr:
** Electric cars are fine if people are willing to settle for less range, and if the battery industry gets its shit together and starts making cheap sodium-ion batteries.
-->
===Generating enough electricity===
{{sum|Major problem|bad}}
* Whenever the electricity comes from [[fossil fuels]], electric cars are [[electric vehicles/fossil fuel powered|barely any better than gasoline cars]] when it comes to carbon emissions.
* The majority of the world's electricity does in fact come from fossil fuels. Other [[energy sources]] have a hard time scaling up.
* For electric vehicles to save the environment, we're going to need a lot more [[solar]], [[wind]], or alternative types of [[nuclear]]. Any of these require overcoming some major [[solar/challenge 1|challenges]].
<!-- TODO: make a map of where in the world are hydro & geothermal power available and not already at maxed-out capacity -->
 
===Availability of charging===
{{sum|Ongoing progress}}
{{empty}}
 
===Rare-earth magnets===
{{sum|Reasonable}}
Efficient electric motors need strong magnets, which can only be made with certain minerals known as ''rare-earth elements'' (REEs) {{x|includes neodymium and 16 other periodic-table elements; in nature, they all tend to occur together in the same parts of the earth}}. Luckily, REEs aren't actually that scarce. Even if all vehicles were electric, we wouldn't even come close to running out of REEs.
 
{{minor|This is true even if all [[energy]] were to come from [[wind]] turbines, which also contain rare-earth magnets.}}
 
{{pn|TODO: Add the calculations & research that led to this statement.}}
 
 
==See also==
* [[Hydrogen combustion vehicles]]
* [[Public transit]]
* [[Walkability]]

Revision as of 20:51, 15 October 2023

Problem: Most vehicles today run on gasoline, diesel, or other fossil fuels that cause climate change. About 16% of the world's GHG emissions are due to vehicles.

Possible solution: Make vehicles electric. But this comes with some serious challenges that must be dealt with first, before electric vehicles (EVs) can be mass-produced enough to actually make a difference for the planet.

Status quo

  • Only about 1% of vehicles on the road today are electric.

Types of EVs

By type of energy storage:

  • Battery electric vehicles (most common EVs today)
  • Fuel cell vehicles (very few models on the market today)


By type of vehicle:

Considerations

Battery minerals

Major problem

The batteries in today's EVs contain large amounts of metals that are too scarce. This makes EVs expensive and unscalable.

More specifically:

  • Almost all of today's EVs use lithium-ion batteries that are made of nickel, cobalt, manganese and of course lithium.
    • Cobalt is the biggest issue: it's scarce, and its production involves child labor.

With either of these technologies, if we want to make all cars electric, there simply aren't enough minerals available to be mined from the Earth. We need to use some other type of energy storage instead. This involves tradeoffs.

Possible solutions

  • Sodium-ion batteries
    • not available on the market yet
    • could potentially be built with only abundant materials
  • LFP batteries
    • available on the market
    • cobalt-free, but still based in lithium
      • in other words, more scalable but still not as scalable as we'd like.

The main problem with these types of batteries is that they hold less of a charge - in other words, the vehicle would have less range. But at least it would be more affordable.[QUANTIFICATION needed] In the case of electric cars, this compromise might actually be fine if the average buyer is okay with it.

Every once and awhile there's some news article about some company researching / developing / investing in some battery type that will supposedly be as energy-dense as lithium-ion. But there's no guarantee it'll happen in the near future, and if it does, it'll probably be expensive.

Generating enough electricity

Major problem
  • Whenever the electricity comes from fossil fuels, electric cars are barely any better than gasoline cars when it comes to carbon emissions.
  • The majority of the world's electricity does in fact come from fossil fuels. Other energy sources have a hard time scaling up.
  • For electric vehicles to save the environment, we're going to need a lot more solar, wind, or alternative types of nuclear. Any of these require overcoming some major challenges.

Availability of charging

Ongoing progress

This section has not been filled in yet.

Rare-earth magnets

Reasonable

Efficient electric motors need strong magnets, which can only be made with certain minerals known as rare-earth elements (REEs) (...)( includes neodymium and 16 other periodic-table elements; in nature, they all tend to occur together in the same parts of the earth ). Luckily, REEs aren't actually that scarce. Even if all vehicles were electric, we wouldn't even come close to running out of REEs.

This is true even if all energy were to come from wind turbines, which also contain rare-earth magnets.

TODO: Add the calculations & research that led to this statement.


See also

Retrieved from "https://olam.wiki/index.php?title=Electric_vehicles&oldid=1586"