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Earth Day was April 22, and the usual message – taking care of our planet – has been made even more urgent by the challenges highlighted in the latest IPCC report. This year, Ars looks at the technologies we normally cover, from cars to making chips, and find out how we can increase their sustainability and minimize their impact on the climate.
For many people, buying an electric vehicle means putting a stake in the ground –when I’m going to drive through the city, I do it while reducing my carbon footprint.
“Gone are the days of burning toxic gasoline. A new era of electrons and instant torque is upon us,’ you might say, standing next to your new vehicle and blue trash can.
But as with traditional vehicles, not all EVs are equal in their impact on the world. A quick look at the specs and sheer size of the new GMC Hummer EV is all you need to understand where some automakers want to take the powertrain — and it’s not in the service of efficiency.
Not all EPA tests are created equal
When determining which EVs are the most efficient, a good place to start is with the Environmental Protection Agency’s fuel economy ratings. The EPA lists electric vehicles based on the amount of energy they use to travel 100 miles, and the lower the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity used, the more efficient the vehicle is. For example, according to the EPA, the 2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD consumes 25 kWh per 100 miles traveled, while the 2022 Audi e-tron S (with 21 or 22-inch wheels) consumes a less efficient 52 kWh per 100 miles traveled. † (Note that larger wheels typically reduce a vehicle’s range.)
For the 2022 model year, these are the five most efficient vehicles currently for sale based on the EPA’s measurement of energy consumption per 100 miles:
- 2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD: 25 kWh
- 2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring: 26 kWh
- 2022 Chevrolet Bolt: 28 kWh
- 2022 Hyundai Kona Electric: 28 kWh
- 2022 Tesla Model S: 28 kWh
The top 10 ends with the Model Y, Bolt EUV, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and finally the Kia Niro, all of which achieved 30 kWh of energy consumption per 100 miles or less.
These are impressive numbers, but there is one more thing to consider, which is the adjustment factor used to determine EPA range data. To get these numbers, all EVs are attached to dynamometers (like a car treadmill) and run until their battery runs out. It’s not really a real-world test, as the vehicles don’t have to deal with changing elevations, wind, tarmac differences, and all the other problems they would encounter on real roads.
To complicate things a bit, some automakers take the EPA’s 30 percent adjustment factor. For example, if a vehicle goes 500 miles on the dynamometer, the automaker gets a 30 percent hit, reducing that range by 250 miles, giving you 350 miles of range on the EPA cycle. It is the method used by Hyundai, Kia and GM.
Tesla and Lucid do something different. They perform additional runs on the dynamometer and are allowed to use those results to produce better adjustment factors. Those numbers help boost their range numbers.
So while the EVs listed above are certainly efficient, not all of them are tested in the same way, and that can lead to discrepancies.
Factory impact
As automakers move to battery-electric vehicles, they are also touting their current or eventual carbon neutral factories. A cleaner factory results in a cleaner vehicle that comes off the line. It’s a commendable plan, but for many OEMs, it’s a promise that hasn’t quite been fulfilled yet.
Tesla seems to have the most problems in this area at its factory in Fremont, where it manufactures all the vehicles it sells in the United States. In February 2022, the automaker settled with the EPA over Clean Air Act violations from 2016 to 2019. In 2019, the company was fined by the EPA for hazardous waste violations, and in May 2021, it was awarded Bay Area Air Quality Management. District fined the company $1 million for violations, including exceeding permitted emissions.
The Lucid Air is being built at the company’s new plant in Arizona. The 500-acre estate in Casa Grande, Arizona, was launched in Fall 2021, but the company has not yet announced any carbon neutral or energy-reducing initiatives at the plant.
The Kia EV6 is being built in Hwaseong, Korea, and Kia has announced that it has improved its handling of chemicals and is switching to alternative products for factory vehicle production.
Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Kona Electric are both built at Ulsan Plant 1 in South Korea. The company announced that it plans to make all sites carbon neutral and run on 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. That is still a long way off.
Finally, the Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV are both built at the Orion plant in Michigan and use landfill gas to power the plant.
However, other OEMs do better. Although the Porsche Taycan is not in the top 10, the factory in Zuffenhausen is CO2 neutral and all electricity comes from renewable sources. So it is possible for an automaker to meet its factory efficiency targets; it may just take longer for some to do this.
Porsche
