than comparable ICE vehicles. Plus, while ICE vehicles are stuck burning the same fuel for the rest of their serviceable lives, EVs continue to get cleaner as electric grids improve.found that electric vehicles are cleaner from a carbon-emissions standpoint than internal combustion vehicles — and they’re only getting cleaner.data) compares BEV and ICE emissions over a lifetime for several different countries: China, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the United States.
But, there’s still some silver lining to that cloud. For one, despite having the dirtiest EVs, they’re still cleaner than the cleanest ICE vehicles in the study . So, EVs win, even when they’re powered by the worst electricity production! It’s also true that the sheer number of cars in China and the sheer number of EVs put on the road makes a big global impact, even if the impact could be more. Or, as Stalin supposedly said, “Quantity has a quality all its own.
The ICE vehicles will improve some, because there’s still some engine research and development happening. Things like better electronic controls, variable compression, HCCI, cleaner fuels, and hybrids will continue to make for some improvements. But, the problem of thermal efficiency doesn’t go away. So, there’s simply not enough room for improvement compared to the improvement that’s already happening on the power grids.