Charging toward net zero: The environmental factors electric vehicles don't fix
Published in Slideshow World
The U.S. has ambitious goals to curb climate change in the coming decades—and electric vehicles feature heavily in that plan.
EV vehicles represent an immense leap in automotive industry capabilities made possible by computer chips and battery technology advancements, further nudged by government incentives. But research and current economic and environmental trends have laid bare that they're by no means a silver bullet for alleviating climate change.
CoPilot analyzed academic studies and federal and news sources to illustrate America's uphill battle to electrify vehicles.
It's a push that's gotten off to a strong start. A record 1.2 million EVs were sold to consumers in 2023, according to Kelley Blue Book, representing a jump in overall sales from 5.9% in 2022 to 7.6% last year. In 2024, that share is projected to account for 10% of all vehicle sales.
To reach climate goals set for the end of the decade, however, the current pace of sales growth may prove insufficient.
Right now, the U.S. is focused on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That means ensuring greenhouse gas emissions don't reach the point where the world's average surface temperature rises 1.5 degrees Celsius more than before the industrial era began in the early 1900s. Warmer global temperatures can melt arctic ice, raise sea levels, generate more extreme weather, and, as a result, endanger human life.
Transportation contributes 28% of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, making it the #1 contributor ahead of electricity generation and industrial production, per the Environmental Protection Agency. That means EVs could make a significant impact in lowering greenhouse gas emissions compared with other emissions-producing activities.
But groups pressing for climate change to be sufficiently addressed have warned that current U.S. policies may not be enough, highlighting the dire need to fast-track promising tech like EVs. The United Nations and a consortium of nonprofits working to curb climate change have warned that current U.S. policies are insufficient to meet 1.5-degree goals.
And that's as reports suggest a recent slowdown in Americans' appetites for the pricey, clean energy alternatives to their gasoline-burning vehicles.
Visit thestacker.com for similar lists and stories.