Decarbonizing the electricity sector by implementing renewable and nuclear energy sources can significantly reduce these vehicles’ use phase emissions.

Electricity production is by far the most emission-intensive stage in a BEVs life cycle.

According to a McKinsey & Company study, this high emission intensity can be attributed to the extraction and refining of raw materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel that are needed for batteries, as well as the energy-intensive manufacturing process of BEVs.

The production emissions for BEVs are approximately 40% higher than those of hybrid and ICE vehicles.

While it may not be surprising that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have the lowest life cycle emissions of the three vehicle segments, we can also take some other insights from the data that may not be as obvious at first. These numbers consider a use phase of 16 years and a distance of 240,000 km. Here is an overview of the 2021 life cycle emissions of medium-sized electric, hybrid and ICE vehicles in each stage of their life cycles, using tCO 2e.

To compare these emissions effectively, a standardized unit called metric tons of CO 2 equivalent (tCO 2e) is used, which accounts for different types of greenhouse gases and their global warming potential. Life cycle emissions are the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted throughout a product’s existence, including its production, use, and disposal.

Production to Disposal: Emissions at Each Stage To gain insights into how different vehicle types contribute to these emissions, the above graphic visualizes the life cycle emissions of battery electric, hybrid, and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles using Polestar and Rivian’s Pathway Report. In 2021, it accounted for 37% of all CO 2 emissions from end‐use sectors. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on real assets and resource megatrends each week.Īccording to the International Energy Agency, the transportation sector is more reliant on fossil fuels than any other sector in the economy.

4 cycles of a combustion engine