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Clear Vitality Canada is a clear power assume tank on the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser College. By way of media briefs, we intention to supply helpful factual and contextual info associated to Canada’s clear power transition. Please use this as a useful resource, and tell us if there are any matters that you simply want to see for future media briefs. 

Electrical automobiles now make up 9% of latest automotive gross sales in Canada. In B.C. and Quebec, the market share is even greater, with electrical automobiles making up round 20% and 14% of latest vehicles bought in every province, respectively. However as EVs have gained in recognition, so have misinformed arguments in opposition to their adoption. This media transient unpacks quite a lot of the commonest ones with related, publicly out there analysis. 

Fable 1. “EVs have better lifecycle emissions than fuel vehicles”

Globally, electrical automobiles have been proven repeatedly to have decrease lifecycle emissions than conventional gas-powered automobiles even in areas with fossil-fuel-dependent electrical energy grids. Lifecycle emissions generally embrace emissions from mineral sourcing like mining or recycling, mineral processing, car and battery manufacturing, automotive use and, in some circumstances, disposal and recycling at finish of life.

• A research from the Worldwide Council on Clear Transportation discovered that the lifecycle emissions of a brand new battery-electric car are decrease than a comparable fuel automotive by round 60% to 69% within the U.S. and Europe and 37% to 45% in China, relying largely on the emissions depth of the electrical energy used to cost the car.
• One other current research (which incorporates battery recycling in its calculation) discovered that when charged with 100% renewable electrical energy, electrical automobiles are 89% decrease emission than fuel automobiles. Canada’s electrical energy grid is presently 84% non-emitting. 
• A research from Ford Motors and the College of Michigan discovered that the majority passenger electrical automobiles have roughly 64% decrease lifecycle emissions than fuel automobiles on common throughout the U.S.
• A Canada-specific research indicated that an EV would have decrease lifecycle emissions whatever the provincial grid it’s plugged into, with emissions financial savings relative to an equal fuel automotive starting from 25% in Alberta to 85% in Quebec. Word that the federal authorities’s proposed Clear Electrical energy Rules would see Canada attain a net-zero grid by 2035. If achieved, EVs in Canada could be charged with even cleaner energy throughout the nation, additional decreasing their lifecycle emissions.
• There’s a vital push to cut back emissions related to the manufacturing of EVs. Many automakers, like Tesla, Ford, and Normal Motors, are investing in battery supplies recycling. Some are already preferentially shopping for supplies from mines and producers with decrease carbon footprints.

Fable 2. “There will not be sufficient metallic and mineral assets to produce electrical automobiles”

• Research point out that there are ample reserves of key minerals to produce future world EV demand. Nevertheless, the adoption of recycling applied sciences is essential to decreasing the quantity of latest minerals and metals extracted, limiting environmental injury, and decreasing social and financial prices.
• The Worldwide Council on Clear Transportation estimates that battery recycling can scale back the necessity for brand spanking new mining by 20% in 2040 and 40% in 2050 globally.
• Provide constraints might trigger bottlenecks and value fluctuations within the close to time period, however these stresses will probably be momentary if policymakers and business anticipate and put together for them. In accordance with BloombergNEF, world battery manufacturing capability elevated 84% between 2019 and 2021. Canada is making vital efforts to construct its battery manufacturing capability, backed by the Crucial Minerals Technique, whereas the U.S.’s Inflation Discount Act is channeling billions of {dollars} towards constructing a North American battery provide chain.
• The EV battery recycling business is rising, with quite a lot of Canadian corporations displaying world management, together with Lithion and Li-Cycle. As well as, some jurisdictions—just like the EU—have set necessary recycled content material targets for cobalt, lead, lithium, and nickel from batteries. 
• Many automakers have pledged to not use minerals sourced from deepsea mining.
• Numerous corporations are advancing battery applied sciences which can be much less mineral-intensive or depend on cheaper, extra available uncooked supplies (e.g. solid-state batteries and iron-phosphate batteries). China’s BYD, which is the world’s second-largest EV producer and likewise provides different carmakers with its battery know-how, introduced it might produce batteries with out nickel, cobalt, and manganese.

Fable 3. “EV batteries want changing earlier than the car’s finish of life”

• All EVs bought right this moment embrace a battery guarantee of no less than eight years and 160,000 kilometres. A current research confirmed that almost all of EVs which were pushed greater than 160,000 kilometres nonetheless retained no less than 90% of their authentic vary. 
• Tesla has claimed that the vary on its Mannequin S and X automobiles decreased by simply 12% after 321,000 kilometers of driving (these fashions are older and subsequently provide insights primarily based on real-world information). That is strengthened by a crowd-sourced research by Tesla house owners within the Netherlands that discovered that long-range Teslas sometimes held no less than 90% of their authentic cost after 240,000 kilometers of driving. 
• EVs have fewer transferring elements, leading to much less engine put on, that means they’re more likely to be longer-lasting than their fuel counterparts and require fewer repairs.

Fable 4. “EVs are much less inexpensive than fuel vehicles”

• Clear Vitality Canada analyzed quite a lot of in style electrical automotive fashions, evaluating their whole possession prices with that of fuel equivalents. With only one exception, the electrical model of each automotive analyzed was cheaper, often considerably so.
• Particularly, the evaluation discovered that the electrical Hyundai Kona, Canada’s second best-selling EV in 2021, is $17,800 cheaper to personal than the gas-powered Kona with a median fuel value of $2 per litre. Even at a fuel value of $1.45, the Kona remains to be $10,500 cheaper. The electrical Chevrolet Bolt provided much more value financial savings, with the comparable gas-powered Toyota Corolla costing $22,000 extra over its lifetime at a $2 fuel value.

Fable 5. “EVs do not need sufficient vary”

Fable 6. “The grid can’t deal with EVs”

• Whereas the swap to EVs would require good electrical energy planning, different nations world wide, like Norway (the place EVs account for some 80% of latest vehicles bought), haven’t skilled grid-related points because of excessive EV adoption.
• In California, the place EV gross sales made up 21% of latest automotive gross sales within the first quarter of 2023 (the best in North America, adopted carefully by B.C.), EV charging presently accounts for lower than 1% of the grid’s whole load throughout peak hours. In 2030, when EVs are set to account for 68% of latest gross sales, charging is projected to make up lower than 5% of that load.
• A federal authorities research on the anticipated electrical energy demand from EVs discovered that they might characterize 3.4%, 16.1%, and 22.6% of {the electrical} energy demand in 2030, 2040, and 2050 respectively. Because the research states, “This quantity is critical, however for the reason that progress is unfold over 30 years, with many of the progress taking place throughout the 2030 to 2050 timeframe, Canadian utilities have ten years to refine the load forecast and plan for grid enlargement.”
• Utilities and producers are additionally engaged on utilizing EVs to assist handle and decarbonize electrical energy grids. When plugged into the grid, EV batteries may present beneficial energy storage by storing electrical energy of their batteries after which giving it again to the grid when required. One research confirmed that electrical car batteries alone may fulfill short-term world grid storage demand by as early as 2030. Some Canadian utilities are additionally providing decrease off-peak electrical energy charges to encourage EV house owners to cost their EVs throughout instances of low demand, decreasing the necessity for additional capability. 
• The most effective methods to assist electrical utilities of their grid readiness efforts is to supply market certainty, one thing that’s supplied within the forthcoming zero-emission car regulated gross sales targets, which require an rising proportion of latest vehicles bought in Canada to be electrical.

Fable 7. “EVs will not be appropriate for chilly Canadian winters”

• EVs do lose some vary throughout excessive chilly. Some research have proven vary loss to be no extra than 30% and as little as 8% for some makes and fashions. Nevertheless, different research of utmost chilly have discovered it to be between 30% and 50%.
• EVs have significantly extra vary than required for many each day journeys (see fable 5).
• What’s extra, chilly climate can even improve fuel automotive gasoline consumption by as much as 28%, successfully decreasing vary and rising gasoline prices.
• As well as, most fashionable EVs have battery heating choices that preheat the battery earlier than driving to cut back vary loss.
• In contrast to a fuel automotive, EVs do not need issues beginning in chilly climate, and plenty of EVs permit house owners to remotely preheat the passenger compartment earlier than driving.
• Numerous Canadians have spoken about their experiences driving EVs in Canadian winters (see right here and right here).

Fable 8. “EVs have a better hearth danger than fuel vehicles”

• A 2022 research from insurance coverage web site AutoInsuranceEZ tracked automotive fires within the U.S., discovering that electrical automobiles noticed simply 25 fires per 100,000 EVs bought in comparison with 1,530 fires for each 100,000 fuel vehicles. In different phrases, fires occurred in a single in each 4,000 EVs in comparison with one in each 65 fuel vehicles.