Even if electricity is more charred in the United States, electric cars are even more ecological there

Even in the United States, where electricity is still very carbonated, an electric car will broad Environmental Science and Technology.

It is true that the manufacture of an electric car, with its hundreds of kilograms of batteries, emits more greenhouse gases than the manufacture of a thermal model, the authors of the study said: almost 12 tons of equivalent CO2 for an average electric SUV against less than 8 for its thermal equivalent.

Less pollutant in use

But this on -confirmation is largely compensated during use, the fuel of a thermal car is much more polluting in terms of greenhouse gas emission than the production of electricity of an electric car.

The researchers estimated that a medium -sized thermal SUV that will have shot for 15 years during a retained distance of approximately 210,000 miles (337,000 km) will be the source of the emission of 84 tons of CO2 equivalent, against 18 tons for its electric equivalent in the same conditions.

On average, an electric vehicle with an autonomy of 300 miles (482 kilometers) will be the source of 30% less emissions throughout its life cycle than a rechargeable hybrid car, about 60% less than a non -cut -cut hybrid and about 70% less than a oil with oil engine.

Even with more carbonated electricity

The researcher Elizabeth Smith and the other study authors were “the first to demonstrate that electrification led a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in all US counties,” they argue. Therefore, even in Apache County in Arizona, “which has the most intensive carbon network”, an electric truck will issue 40% less greenhouse gases throughout its life cycle than its thermal equivalent.

The study was based on a statistical model of estimated CO2 emissions that the authors have fed with variables linked to the profile of the average American driver or the intensity of carbon electricity in the country. The United States, still very dependent on gas and coal, have much more carbonized electricity than in many European countries.

In the last three months, each Kilovatio-Hora of Electricity produced there has generated 424 grams of equivalent CO2, against 269 in Germany, 195 in the United Kingdom, 36 in Norway and 26 in France, according to the calculations of the electricity maps of the Franco-Danois site. The electrification of vehicles in the United States is still limited: 2.7% of cars in circulation are electric, according to the 2024 figures of the International Energy Agency, compared to 4.4% within the European Union and 11% in China.