AES 2017/18 September Cohort: Extended

Research Titles For CW 1 (A) – Source Evaluation,

Reference List And Outline & CW 2 – Extended
Research Essay
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of electric cars in helping to limit the
enhanced greenhouse effect. Give evidence and examples to support your points.

The earth is a fragile place. It is built upon complex systems that are intricately intertwined. Each of
these systems are vital for the earth to remain a habitable place for all life. Therefore, a disruption in any
one of these systems can lead to a catastrophic chain reaction that may topple the mighty mountain of
our existence. It is therefore ironical, that we humans are the main culprits for unsettling these
established systems. We as a species have an insatiable hunger for resources and have gone to extreme
lengths to attain them. Even though, this innate desire to thrive is the key to our success as a species it is
also the major reason why the planet is in a state of flux. One of the main crises facing our planet today
is the ever-growing threat of Global Warming. And one of the most prevalent causes for this threat is
the increase in emission of greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses are the gasses that contribute to the
aptly named “Greenhouse effect”. In a green house rays from the sun enter the glass roof but cannot
escape. This is because when the rays enter they have a high energy and so can do so easily, however
after they reach the surface and get reflected, they have less energy and so cannot escape. This means
that they stay trapped inside the green house making it hotter. Similarly, when the sun’s rays reach the
earths atmosphere they pass through easily as they have high energy. These rays then reach the surface
and get reflected back. Normally these reflected rays would easily pass through the atmosphere and out
into space. However due to large amounts of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere these weaker rays
cannot pass through and are trapped. This leads to the overall temperature of the atmosphere to
increase thus causing erratic weather patterns which become hard to predict. There are many gasses,
greenhouse gasses, that are accountable for this. The most common ones are Carbon dioxide, Carbon
monoxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Water vapor and Halocarbons. Recent studies have shown, however
that Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas most prevalent in the atmosphere (Casper). Carbon dioxide is
a byproduct of the combustion process, a process that is a fundamental component of modern life
(Egede). The combustion process is the heart of the car, and we as a species have used the car on a daily
basis for almost 200 years. This means that our dependence on cars cannot be overstated. However, this
dependence has led to the production of copious amounts of Carbon dioxide into our atmosphere and
worsening the greenhouse effect. The solution therefore lies on using a different source to power our
cars, like electricity. But are electric cars really the solution?

Electric cars are cars that depend entirely on electrical energy to run their drive chain. The electric car
consists of three main components, a battery to store the electric energy, a motor to drive the wheels
and a controller. The battery is normally charged from the mains electricity by use of a plug and a
battery charging unit, which can be either carried onboard or fitted at the charging unit. The controllers
main task is to control the flow of electricity from the battery to the motor. A 2-quadrant controller
controls the cars speed and direction, that is moving forward or backwards. A 4-quadrant controller,
together with controlling forward and backward motion of the car, has the added functionality of
regenerative braking both to recoup energy and providing a frictionless braking system (James
Larminie). Examples of electric cars in production today are, Tesla Roadster, Nissan leaf, Honda FCX
Clarity and the Chevrolet Volt. As we can see electric cars do not require any form of combustion to
produce power to run the drive chain. This means that they do not emit any greenhouse gasses. Imagine
everyone substituting their car for an electric car. This would help in reducing the total amount of
greenhouse gas emission by a significant amount. From statistics collected by International Energy
Agency in 2010, the transport sector contributed to 22% of the worlds greenhouse gas emission, of
which 75% is from road transport. Therefore, changing over to electric vehicle’s will lead to a decrease in
overall greenhouse gas emission of at least 15%. (Egede)

Cars that make use of internal combustion engines have an entire plethora of moving parts. To ensure
the smooth running of the car, besides fuel it requires lubrication and cooling. The lubricants and
coolants used are mostly derived from oil, just like its fuel. This means that an entire ecosystem exists
around the production of these oil based products for these cars. Oil as we know is mined from the
earth. This oil is then transported to distillation plants where the oil is heated and its various
components, such as methane, kerosene, petrol, gasoline, diesel, mineral oils and tar are separated out
in a process called fractional distillation. The mining of oil, its transport and processing all contribute
greatly to the greenhouse effect. Oil mining requires the building of a significant amount of
infrastructure. Most of the times when oil is discovered in forested areas, this is followed by the
subsequent destruction of said forest. Trees are a major absorber of Carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, therefore less trees means more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Oil production involves
the use of gas flares. These gas flares are used to burn of excess hydrocarbons (Syagbara). The burning
of hydrocarbons is a major source of carbon dioxide emission. Electric cars on the other hand have only
one moving part, thus its lubrication and cooling requirements are minimal at most. This means that if
more electric cars are being used it will reduce our reliance on oil and a lot of its derivatives, thus
reducing the need for mining, transporting and processing of oil.

On paper electric cars seem like the perfect solution to our greenhouse gas emission problem however
they are not as perfect as they seem. If more and more people start using electric cars, this will mean
that our reliance on electrical power will increase. From statistics it is evident that almost 66.3% of the
worlds electricity produced in 2015 came from Coal, Peat Shale, Natural gas and oil (Electric Vehicles:
Likely Consequences of U. S. and Other National Programs and Policies). All of these are combusted to
run power plants, and their combustion produces vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Therefore, it is
suggested that the decrease in emission by cars will be offset by the increase in omission from power
plants. This means that for electric cars to be a truly viable solution to reducing the green house effect,
it will have to go hand in hand with changes in the way we produce electricity. In recent times
alternative sources of electricity production like solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear and geothermal do
exist but are these sources enough to meet the increased demand of electricity that comes as a result of
increased usage of electric cars. These are all questions we need answers to, before we adopt the
electric car as our primary source of road transport.
Electric cars when running do not produce any emissions, however their manufacture is a different story
entirely. The manufacture of electric cars is similar to that of regular cars which means they make use of
large power-hungry factories that produce thousands of cars per year. These power-hungry factories
rely mostly on electricity produced from coal and oil which are as discussed above major contributors to
the whole greenhouse effect problem. The components required to make these cars also require
manufacturing. The lithium ion batteries that are used to power most electric cars are made from
lithium as the name suggests. Lithium is extracted from brines beneath the deserts of South America,
which is evaporated using solar energy. However, as the demand for electric cars increases, the demand
for lithium to make car batteries also increases. To meet this increasing demand lithium is being mined
by crushing rocks in Australia which is a highly destructive process that consumes a lot of energy.
Therefore, arguments are being made that the increase in electric cars will lead to higher demands for
such minerals thus leaving behind a larger footprint (Electric car growth sparks environmental concerns).

Electric cars have huge potential to help alleviate the greenhouse effect by helping reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. The electric car itself has progressed enough technologically, to be considered a viable
replacement for conventional internal combustion vehicles. However, it is the ecosystem that comes
with using an electric vehicle that is weighing it down. In hindsight major progress is being made in
sectors like the increase in power production using alternative sources and the improvement of the
manufacturing process to make it more efficient. Therefore, in my opinion, although they may not have
that big of an impact in reducing greenhouse emissions now, the electric car is still our best bet for doing
so.

References
Administartion, Energy Information;. Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Voluntary Reporting.
Washington DC: DIANE Publishing, 1997.

Casper, Julie Kerr. Greenhouse Gases: Worldwide Impacts. nfobase Publishing, 2010.

Chan, Kwai-Cheung. "Electric Vehicles: Likely Consequences of U. S. and Other National Programs and
Policies." 1994.

Egede, Patricia. Environmental Assessment of Lightweight Electric Vehicles. Springer, 2016 .

"Electric car growth sparks environmental concerns." Financial Times 2018.

Electric Vehicles: Likely Consequences of U. S. and Other National Programs and Policies. n.d.
<https://www.statista.com/statistics/269811/world-electricity-production-by-energy-source/>.

James Larminie, John Lowry. Electric Vehicle Technology Explained. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

Syagbara, Legborsi Pyaro. "The Adverse Impacts of Oil Pollution on the Environment and Wellbeing of a
Local Indigenous Community: The Experience of the Ogoni People of Nigeria." 2007.

William Hamilton, General Research Corporation, United States. Environmental Protection Agency.
Office of Mobile Sorce Air Pollution Control. Alternative Automotive Power Systems
Development Division. "Impact of Future Use of Electric Cars in the Los Angeles Region:
Executive summary and technical report." 1974.