• There's a persistent myth that electric vehicles are somehow worse for the planet than regular cars. 
  • Studies show that EVs produce significantly fewer emissions over their lifetimes than combustion engines. 
  • But building an EV creates more planet-warming emissions than making a gas vehicle. 

Conservative pundits and other skeptics love to claim that electric cars are just as bad for the planet as regular old combustion engines, if not worse. After all, Teslas fill up on electricity generated by dirty power plants, and mining the materials for their batteries takes a huge toll on the environment, so the argument goes. 

But the science tells a different story. 

Studies comparing lifetime emissions of electric and gas-powered cars — from manufacturing through disposal — show that, by and large, driving a battery-powered vehicle is a massive win for the environment. That conclusion holds even when you consider that most electricity in the US currently comes from carbon-producing coal and natural gas and that making an EV isn't exactly a clean process. 

Building an EV isn't great for the planet

Lithium-ion batteries are central to EVs themselves and to the auto industry's broader electric reinvention. But mining the necessary cobalt, refining the lithium, and packaging it all into little cells that fit neatly in a larger pack creates significant greenhouse gas emissions.

That means, perhaps counterintuitively, that "green" cars begin life with a heftier carbon footprint than their "dirty" counterparts. A medium-sized electric car leaves the factory responsible for 33%-57% greater emissions than a comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) one, the International Energy Agency says. 

But since EVs are significantly cleaner to operate, their environmental debt goes away relatively quickly once they hit the road.

(Battery manufacturing, particularly mining, can have other damaging environmental impacts, but we're sticking to greenhouse gases here. Transportation creates 27% of the country's climate-changing emissions, and cars and trucks account for most of that.)

EVs are still cleaner overall

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) analyzed how much pollution an electric car with average efficiency and a 300-mile range would generate over its lifetime if it charged using the 2020 US electrical grid, which was far from 100% renewable. It found that trading in a conventional, 32-mpg sedan for an electric one would slash greenhouse-gas emissions by 52%. 

"While there are emissions from making and using electric vehicles, when you take into account all the factors they are much, much cleaner than a gasoline vehicle," David Reichmuth, a senior engineer at the UCS, told Insider. "They're not perfect. They're just much, much better."

The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) estimates that a medium-sized EV registered in the US in 2021 will pollute 60-68% less over its life than a comparable model burning fossil fuels. Its analysis assumed that EVs will use increasingly clean electricity over time. 

The wide gap in emissions is in part a matter of efficiency. While a combustion engine loses 70% of the energy you feed it to heat, leaving only 30% for forward motion, electric motors exhibit 90% energy efficiency, Georg Bieker, a researcher at the ICCT, told Insider. 

So how long does it take for an EV to shed the baggage of manufacturing and become cleaner than an ICE vehicle? Not all that long, actually. 

The UCS's analysis puts the tipping point at 21,300 miles (for the aforementioned electric car and sedan), less than two years of driving for the typical American. A recent Ford-funded University of Michigan study drew a similar conclusion: 1.4–1.5 years for sedans, 1.6 years for pickup trucks, and 1.6–1.9 years for SUVs. 

Where your energy comes from matters

Although non-renewable energy sources (excluding nuclear) account for 60.9% of the US's electricity generation, most Americans are in good shape to benefit the environment by going electric. 

Per the UCS, more than 90% of the US population lives in an area where driving the average EV yields lower emissions than a 59-mpg ICE vehicle, the most fuel-efficient one available. Based on where electric cars have been sold historically, the average EV on US roads today is roughly as polluting as a theoretical 91-mpg gas car, the organization estimates.

But zooming in on specific regions reveals how vastly EV emissions vary across the country. In upstate New York, where three-quarters of power comes from nuclear or renewable sources, the only way to match an average EV's emissions would be to buy a 247-mpg ICE vehicle. In parts of Hawaii that rely heavily on oil the magic number is 37 mpg. 

EVs will get a lot cleaner over time; ICE cars won't

Crucially, EVs' environmental impact will shrink over time as renewables like solar and wind claim a growing share of the country's electricity use. And this trend is already well underway. 

Electric cars that hit American roads in 2030 could have a 76% greener lifespan than gas counterparts if the US builds an electrical grid in line with the Paris Agreement's goals, according to the ICCT. The UCS reckons that in a future America powered by 95% renewable energy sources, an EV will pollute as much as an ICE vehicle rated at an astronomical 500 mpg. That is to say, very little. 

"As we clean up the grid, that's going to make these vehicles have even lower emissions as they're driven over the next 10, 15, or 20 years," Reichmuth said. "I think that's the really important part."