I don’t think any advocates of EV’s are claiming they cause no damage to the environment at all. At least, the sensible ones are not. The claim is that they cause substantially —less— damage to the environment than ICE cars.
Let’s look at it under 3 headings: manufacturing, CO2 emissions in use and particulate emissions in use.
Manufacturing is the one on which my personal knowledge is the weakest. In terms of CO2 to manufacture, EV’s do produce more because they’re generally heavier - but the difference is recouped (depending on which country we’re talking about) within a number of months or years, and that can be improved as industry is decarbonised. In terms of other environmental damage to manufacture - there are alternatives to lithium in development, the rare metals like cobalt are being systematically removed from batterie - and by the way, refining petrol is a major user of cobalt.
In terms of CO2 produced in use, its a case of Ye canna change the laws of physics, writ large. To start with, EV’s are roughly 3 times more efficient at turning stored energy into motion. So even if 100% of the electricity used to charge them came from fossil fuels, they would be responsible for 1/3 as much CO2 per mile travelled as ICE cars. Then there’s the fact that the grid is now on average around 50% carbon-free, so we’re down to 1/6 of the CO2 emitted, and the grid is reducing carbon intensity all the time.
Then there are particulates in use. Braking - EV’s use regenerative braking, slowing the car down by putting energy back into the battery rather than relying on friction brakes. So the emission of particulates from braking is much lower. I had mine serviced at 26,000 miles, and was told the brake pads were 10% worn - 250,000 mile brake discs, anyone? The discs will warp before the pads wear out. Tyres - there has been some false information doing the rounds that EV tyres produce massively more tiny rubber particles than ICE cars do. But if those claims were remotely near the truth, EV drivers would need a new set of tyres every 1-4,000 miles. I just replaced my fronts after 27,000 miles (not massively different from many ICE cars) and the rear tyres have at least as much in them again.
Then there are particulates from the tail pipe - which are, obviously, zero for EV’s. Whereas for ICE vehicles - however clean and modern - they are still a significant health hazard. There is no getting round that. More people die in the UK from air pollution from vehicles than in road traffic accidents.
There is no getting round the fact we need to decarbonise transport (and a lot of other things). Hydrogen will have a place, but it will be for heavy haulage - at least with the technology we can see at the moment. It is also inherently much less efficient to use renewable electricity to hydrolyse water for hydrogen and put the hydrogen in a car, than it is to use the renewable electricity to charge an EV. Again of the top of my head, I think it’s about a factor of 3.
So, to be clear: are EV’s without problems? No, of course not. They are not environmentally innocent, but their crimes are much smaller than those of ICE cars. There is improvement needed in range, price, charging speed and charging infrastructure, before they can replace ICE cars for every user and situation. And that needs massive investment, and I think Government needs a kick up the bloody arse to get on with it.
Until that happens, those who can make EV’s work will increasingly do so. Those who can’t will have to wait. I’m sure there will also be those who refuse - well, it’s a free country.
I don’t know whether the 2030 target will be kept - I hope it is. I do believe that, in time, most people will be happy they made the switch.