Environmental Impacts of Internal Combustion Engines and Electric Battery Vehicles

Electric vehicles continue to increase in popularity as society encourages us to reduce the pollution in our environment. Since electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions, the production and decomposition of their components must be analyzed to compare the pollution of electric vehicles and internal combustion engines. The differences in the life cycle pollution of electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles were quantified. Overall, internal combustion engines create from 1.2 - 1.6 times the CO2 that electric battery vehicles create over the vehicles’ entire life span. This is considering the vehicles’ production, operation, and disposal. This data shows that electric cars are better for the environment, but they still contribute to the pollution and are not perfect. With continued research, we will see more eco-friendly electric vehicles in the future