The emissions to make a new hybrid car are higher than the emissions to make a conventional gas car because the battery in a hybrid car is bigger. However, the emissions from driving a plug-in hybrid car are about 20-25% of the emissions from driving a gas car. This means that after you’ve driven a hybrid car for 2-3 years, you’ll make up for the emissions that were generated when it was made. So, in the long run, it is worth getting a new plug-in hybrid to replace a gas car.
Megan: Welcome to Possibly, where take on huge problems like the future of our planet, and break them down into small questions like how do you compost in the winter? I’m Megan Hall.
Today, we have a question from listener Mikaila Arthur. Mikaila tries to be environmentally conscious, but like probably most of us, she still drives a car.
Mikaila Arthur: I got bad knees, I’m not going to drive my bike to work, so…
Megan: She can’t get rid of her car, so she’s thinking of replacing it with a new hybrid or electric one.
But then she wondered, would that actually decrease her greenhouse gas emissions? Taking into account all the energy that goes into making a brand new car, is it more energy efficient to keep the gas car you already have, or get a new one that’s hybrid or electric?
Mikaila: And so when this thing got announced I was like, okay, maybe these people will have the answer!
Megan: Good news, Mikaila: we do! I’m here with Molly Magid and Lauren Black from our Possibly Team + they looked into this question. Hi Lauren and Molly.
Megan + Lauren: Hi Megan.
Megan: So Molly, what did you find out?
Molly: To answer Mikaila’s question, the first thing we did was try to figure out how much gas house gas emissions are released when you build a new hybrid or electric car.
Megan: Alright, so Lauren, what happens at the car factory?
Lauren: According to some recent studies, building a brand new midsize fully electric car generates about double the emissions it takes to build a similar gas car.
Megan: Wow! Why does it take so much more energy to build these electric cars?
Lauren: The main difference is their batteries. Because they run fully on electricity, they have to have much bigger batteries than gas cars, and it takes a lot of energy and emissions to make those.
Megan: And what about hybrid cars?
Molly: Since hybrids run on both gas and electricity, their batteries don’t have to be quite as big, so the emissions to build them are somewhere in between gas cars and fully electric cars.
Megan: But so, are the higher emissions that come with building a hybrid or electric car worth it? Are they clean enough once you start driving them they makes up for the extra emissions you put into making them?
Lauren: Well, these cars do have much lower emissions, especially electric cars.
Megan: what do you mean lower emissions? I thought they didn’t have any!
Molly: Well, the electricity that powers an electric car has to come from somewhere! In most cases, that’s a power plant that does create emissions. So, while the car itself doesn’t put out greenhouse gases, its power source does.
Lauren: But that’s still a lot better than driving a gas car, which typically creates three times those emissions! That’s low enough that after you’ve driven an electric car for two or three years, you’ll have made up for the emissions you used to build it.
Megan: Ok so that’s for an electric car, but what about a hybrid?
Molly: The emissions for hybrids are a little higher than for electric, because they do run partly on gas. But here’s the thing- if you get a plug-in hybrid that you charge at home, you’ll probably produce about the same amount of emissions as an electric car.
Megan: Why?
Molly: In these plug in hybrids, the gas engine only kicks in once the battery runs out, which is anywhere from 25-90 miles depending on the model. That means that a lot of people could do most of their daily driving without using the gas engine at all.
Megan: Alright so what’s the final verdict for Mikaila? Are the emissions from driving hybrid and electric cars low enough that it makes sense to buy one?
Lauren: We think yes! If Mikaila buys a new car that runs mostly on electricity, it will only take two or three yearsto make up for the emissions that were used to build it. Considering that the average car on the road is 10 years old, Mikaila will get those emissions back and then some!
Molly: And we’d also recommend getting a plug-in hybrid, because it can run fully on electricity for a good distance, but it can still go farther when you need to drive more.
Megan: Great! Thanks Lauren and Molly.
Outro Megan: That’s it for today. If you have a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choices that affect the planet, tell us about it at “the public’s radio dot org slash possibly” and we’ll find an answer!