The new research finds that in order to repay the carbon debt of making a new EV, it must be driven 4,400 miles if it’s a car and 6,700 miles each year if it’s a truck. That’s already well below the 12,500 miles the average driver travels in a year, and the benefits to making the switch are likely to grow.
As the United States increasingly relies on renewables, for example, charging an EV becomes even more environmentally appealing. Campbell and his co-author also point to improvements in battery recycling as a way of reducing the emissions involved with making an electric car.
One hole in this latest study is that it doesn’t consider the cost of going electric. While previous research has shown that EVs come with higher upfront costs but lower operating expenses, it’s a thread that Campbell hopes economists pull on. He would also like to see someone better account for the emissions generated while extracting oil and getting gasoline to the pump, rather than simply the burning. But, for now, he believes the study sends a clear message.
We have a BEV we charge from our solar panels. It feels almost like cheating. 😋
I’ve done the math, and home solar panels for my small house (and our modest electricity consumption at local prices) still can’t compete with the cost of buying solar power from the grid. A $15,000 system might recoup $1000/year in reduced electricity costs, so that’s not going to break even any time soon. A $1000 off-grid solar “generator” system might net me 2 kWh/day, assuming I actually manually cycle through and physically charge my car with a little bit of charge every day, and basically would likely save me something like $125/year in electricity costs, for an 8 year breakeven.
I’m hopeful that the price of panels and batteries continue to drop, though, to where an investment in that home infrastructure could pay off within a reasonable amount of time from purchase, maybe 3 years from now.
I’m looking at $20k CAD to install solar, to offset less than half of my needs with one EV (will add another). Or I can spend like, $25 a month to offset the non-renewable proportion of my electric bill. I miss out on the cool factor, but it’s the practical decision given my current home’s limitations.