How green is my car?
Sample plot from Carbon Counter (filtered to reflect local conditions). The black dots are for gas and diesel vehicles, the pink dots represent plug-in hybrids, the blue is for the hydrogen vehicle, and the yellow dots represent pure electric vehicles. The lower on the chart, the greener the vehicle. Those further to the left are the cheapest to own and operate.
MIT’s Carbon Counter offers a peek into the lifetime emissions and cost-of-ownership figures for cars, SUVs, and light-duty trucks available in the US. The tool allows for modeling of conditions (e.g., gas and electricity prices, the nature of hydrogen production, tax credits, and driving distances) to enable the analysis to be locally relevant.
A recent CHARGED e-mag article explains the tool along with their observations:
Plug-In vehicles have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions (not a surprise)
The most efficient plug-in hybrids are a “little greener than the larger, less efficient pure EVs.”
Efficiency “is of critical importance when it comes to getting the most green for your green.”
We customized* the tool’s parameters to account for average gas, diesel, and electricity prices in Hawaii and generated a sample plot. The results further confirmed CHARGED’s observations. Of course, EV owners with solar PV see a dramatically different ownership cost figure, and general greenhouse gas emission performance will even be more dramatic as we transition to renewables. Additionally, the analysis appears to be applicable to new cars. Pre-owned vehicles will often offer a lower cost and carbon footprint than new ones.
The key takeaways from the data:
If you must drive a car, choose one that does not depend on gas or diesel.
Battery electric vehicles are the most green of the vehicles. Yes - even when considering greenhouse gas emissions from production and raw materials.
Efficiency is important. The most efficient vehicles are smaller and don’t have the biggest battery. Choose your car wisely - the bigger, badder, and faster car is also more costly and less green.
Some Plug-In Hybrids are cleaner than larger pure electric vehicles. For example, the Toyota Prius Prime is greener than the Nissan LEAF SV/SL.
The Cleanest (top 3): Hyundai Ioniq Electric, Tesla Model 3 (Standard Range Plus), BMW i3
The Dirtiest (top 3): Toyota Sequoia, Toyota Tundra, Nissan Armada
Take Carbon Counter for a spin and see what else you can pick up. You can access the tool here. Click on the “?” icon on the top right of the screen for a tutorial.
What about clean air?
Something not considered in the tool is air pollution impact. Air pollution that is associated with burning fossil fuel (in cars and for electricity generation) contributes to the premature deaths of millions globally each year, according to a recent Harvard University report. By shifting to electric vehicles and a 100% renewable grid, powered by solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, Hawaii will reduce planet-warming emissions, save households money, and clean its air.
*Here is the customization used for our chart (the other parameters were left as the default):
Added: HI Sales Tax and Fees
Gas price: 4.50
Diesel price: 4.60
Electricity price: 0.35
Hydrogen emissions: Production by electrolysis
Average driving distance: 10,000 miles
