10 Things to Think About When Buying an EV

By Luke Wagner ’27

  1. Price

EV’s are priced consistently higher than their similar-sized gas counterparts, due to the cost of making the batteries. According to US News, an electric car costs $12,000 more on average than its gas counterpart. Although there are savings on refuelling electric vehicles, long distances have to be driven to make the higher price worth it. An article by the Vancouver Sun cited a study done by researchers at UBC, finding that British Columbians would have to drive a total of 64 km per day for seven years to break even. Considering the average resident drives 34 km per day, at the end of seven years, an electric car would still cost $8,000 more than a similar gas one. 

  1. CO2 Emissions from Electricity Production 

Even renewable energy sources require a certain climate or conditions. For example, hydroelectric power requires large rivers and a hardy ecosystem, but not all areas have enough water. For much of the world, the main source of electricity is coal power plants. Coal power is cheap, reliable, and easy to access. The World Nuclear Association says that 64.5% of worldwide electricity produced is from coal. Electric cars run on electricity, and when that electricity comes from coal, one of the main benefits —lower carbon emissions— is cut down. 

  1. Range

A main downside of electric cars is range. Manufacturers have not yet figured out how to maximize range without raising prices. On average, electric cars have 100 miles less range than a similar gas car. Because the batteries in electric cars are so heavy and expensive, to make the range longer on an electric car the weight and price will go up dramatically. Also, during cold weather, according to CBC, EV range can drop by up to 30%, whereas in gas cars, the difference is negligible. 

  1. Less Noise

In some aspects, this may be a positive. Excessively loud cars can be a nuisance and wake people up at night. But, there are a few reasons why noise might be beneficial from a safety perspective. First of all, the lack of noise may cause people to not be able to hear an electric car coming. This would be especially dangerous at low speeds, where wind and tire noise would be lower. Next, because there is no noise from the startup of electric vehicles, it may be hard to tell when an electric car is moving at low speeds or about to move. Luckily, according to this CNBC article, laws are already starting to be put in place. In 2021, the UK put in a regulation that all new EVs and hybrids have to make a noise when travelling under 20km/h or when in reverse. 

  1. Tire Emissions

According to new studies, tire wear when driving accounts for more pollution than tailpipe emissions. Nowadays, with catalytic converters, tailpipe emissions have been dramatically reduced. A study by Emissions Analytics found that there is six million metric tons of tire pollution per year. Because heavier vehicles make tires wear down faster, electric vehicles account for a higher proportion of those emissions. Based on an article from Canada’s National Observer, a Tesla model Y produced 26 percent more tire emissions than a similar sized gas car. Tire pollution is a big problem because tires consist of many harmful materials, such as microplastics, rubber, and chemicals. An estimated 5-10 percent of ocean pollution and 3-7 percent of PM 2.5 pollution is from tire wear. There are a few companies that are working on solutions to make cleaner tires, but currently, there are still no solutions. 

  1.  Weight

According to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research and Global News, adding 1,000 pounds of weight to a car increases the fatality risk by 47%. Electric car batteries make them much heavier than a similar sized gas car. Because force is determined by mass and acceleration, if you are driving a heavy car you will cause much more damage during a crash than a lighter car. This can increase the risk of someone getting seriously hurt or dying. Also, due to heavier cars driving on the road, it may soon be necessary to upgrade parking garages or roads to accommodate the increase in weight. For example, the Hummer EV weighs 9,000 pounds, but the GMC Sierra pickup, which is similar sized, weighs only 4,400 to 5,000 pounds. 

  1. Mining of Rare Elements to Make Batteries

Rare earth metals, such as lithium and cobalt, need to be mined to make batteries and motors. But is there enough of them to satisfy our battery production? According to the Toronto Star, it is estimated that by 2030 we will need 55,000 more tonnes of neodymium magnets than are available right now. The same is true with lithium and cobalt. Because these are rare earth metals, it is not easy or cheap to mine them, and if our electric car appetite grows even more, then there may be shortages of these already scarce metals. Although the environmental damage coal and oil production causes is greater than the damage caused by mining rare earth metals, we still might need to make some changes on what metals are needed for batteries. A sodium-ion battery is already in production in China, and this battery is relatively cheap, but car makers in the US do not at the moment want to shift to cheaper cars. Once the rare earth metals start to run out, which could be as early as 2030, we may have to start making the shift towards cheaper and easier-to-make batteries. 

  1. Battery Recycling

 An article by CBC says that when a battery has only 75-80 percent of its original capacity it is near the end of its life. Most EV batteries have an eight-year warranty, which is not long enough for the average driver to recoup the upfront costs of buying one. What happens when a battery reaches the end of its lifespan? Luckily, all the metals in these batteries are recyclable. So what is the problem? Infrastructure. The industry for recycling batteries is not well developed, so many batteries are not recycled as well as they could be. The metals in the batteries are recyclable, but they are not valuable, so there is not a big incentive for batteries to be recycled. There is potential for new uses of batteries, as they can still hold a charge, but so far no big efforts have been made to incentivise recycling and repurposing old EV batteries.

  1. Charging Infrastructure

Despite continued growth in the number of electric vehicle charging stations, there are still not enough to eliminate the anxiety. An article by CNBC says that a study by Cox Automotive found that 32% of people considering buying an EV were worried about a lack of charging stations where they live. Although there are a lot of people with chargers at home, there are still many who do not have access to a charger close by. Another factor is the type of charging stations. According to the US Department of Energy, 21,000 of the 33,000 chargers in the US are Tesla superchargers. So if you have an EV by a different manufacturer, it is even harder to find a charger. Recently, there have been steps to reduce this, such as Tesla opening up their chargers to Ford EVs, but there is still a long way to go before charging anxiety is gone and there are as many charging stations as gas stations. 

  1. Charging Time 

Another issue for electric car owners is charging time. Although some electric cars can charge quickly with a strong charger, most home chargers have less power, thus making your car charge slower. On average, it takes 8 hours to charge an electric car from empty to full. There are some charging stations that allow you to charge your electric car faster, called Level 3 chargers. These charges take approximately 30 minutes to charge from full to empty, but these charging stations are more scarce, and only some cars can take advantage of the full power. To combat this, car companies should manufacture cars that are able to charge with a stronger charging station, and we should make these charging stations more abundant to allow people to take advantage of faster charging. 

So, what’s the solution?

As outlined above, the solutions in the short term may be to beef up some of our infrastructure or redesign how batteries are made or recycled, but in the long run these problems may still be prevalent, or new problems may crop up. The best solution for the moment may be to buy a hybrid car. Hybrid cars are the best of both worlds, as they have lower CO2 emissions by having a smaller engine coupled with an electric motor and battery, and many of the problems associated with full EVs disappear, or are much lower in a hybrid, such as range anxiety, weight, tire emissions, charging time, and safety. Although hybrids may not be the solution for everyone, there is a compelling argument that for most people, buying a hybrid instead of an EV is the ideal fix.