EV Manufacturing Data: Reducing emissions or virtue signalling?

Chemetall Footr Lithium Operation, Nevada

EV virtue signalling is the act of driving around in an electric vehicle feeling smug about one's environmental credentials without having a clue about the carbon emissions produced in the manufacture of EVs in different jurisdictions. EV use is a good thing when it is fit for purpose, but to force everybody to drive an EV is a dangerous precedent, especially when the environmental credentials of EV manufacturing leave much to be desired.

I discussed the models and data used to determine the CO2 emissions produced by the manufacture of EVs recently with Alexandra Marshall on Spectator TV.

Are electric vehicles 🚗 actually 'green'? I have my doubts...

"Destroying the environment to save the environment is 'kind of okay' [in the world of #NetZero]. Killing koalas is okay if it's for wind turbines but not for a coal mine."@SpectatorOz columnist Michael de Percy… pic.twitter.com/swbS4OTONa

— Alexandra Marshall (@ellymelly) April 5, 2024

Transport Options for South Canberra

Electric buses provide a low-emissions, flexible, and affordable way to improve transport outcomes

Tonight I was invited by the Woden Valley Community Council's South Canberra Transport Forum to discuss the cost of light rail in Canberra and falling per capita public transport boardings and electric buses to improve transport outcomes while reducing CO2 emissions.

My slides from the event are below.

70 per cent of EV data is made up

Are EVs as environmentally friendly as their proselytizers insist?

Evangelistic EV drivers tell me that as an academic, I should know better. They are unimpressed when I do not support their confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias is where we look for, and find, data that supports our beliefs. Nowhere is this more prolific than in trying to understand the comparative CO2 emissions produced in the manufacture of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE) versus electric vehicles (EV).

The comparison can help us to understand the whole-of-life carbon emissions of ICE versus EVs.

This morning's Spectator Australia Morning Double Shot newsletter read as follows:

Your scribe is writing from Gundagai, on a road trip from Melbourne to Sydney. For no real reason besides relieving boredom, I’ve taken to counting Teslas on my long drives, because aesthetically they’re very distinctive and easy to spot. Yesterday, between home and Gundagai I counted 99: on a similar trip late last year it was exactly 100 all the way between Sydney’s eastern suburbs and bayside Melbourne. The point of this nerdy observation is that a steadily-increasing number of people with more bucks than brains are channelling their green virtue signalling by buying EVs, convinced by the government-sponsored ballyhoo that they’re doing their bit for reducing carbon emissions. Michael de Percy, however, has been poring over EV-related data and concludes the claims for their greenness are overrated, inflated, or just made up, especially if one includes the humongous carbon emissions involved in their manufacture as well as operation.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, 70 per cent of EV data is made up.

70 per cent of EV data is made up | #NetZero
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Are these things really as green as politicians say they are?

It takes 15,000 tonnes of CO2 to mine 1,000 tonnes of lithium required for batteries. Reports indicate that building an #EV emits 80 per cent more CO2 than a… pic.twitter.com/cMJFMDbiJz

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 1, 2024