Earth Today | JET boss says electric vehicles need improvement

DR THERESA Rodriguez-Moodie, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), thinks electric vehicles (EVs) hold great potential for positive environmental impacts but insists that challenges with the charging, manufacturing and sourcing of raw materials for the batteries must be overcome.

An electric vehicle is a unit that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by electricity from outside or autonomously by a battery. EVs include, but are not limited to, road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electric aircraft, and electric spacecraft.

They have been in existence for more than 100 years and were among the first set of motorised vehicles to be manufactured. However, because of several factors, EVs were replaced by vehicles run by internal combustible engines (ICE), which use fossil fuel.

There is now a growing focus on EVs as more governments seek to reduce their carbon footprints. However, environmentalists point to needed improvements to make them more environmentally friendly.

“Electric vehicles produce less emissions, which contribute to the warming of our climate, than fossil fuel-generated vehicles. However, EVs, in most instances, rely on fossil fuels to charge them (coal, LNG, diesel, etc). Therefore, depending on the energy source to charge EVs, they potentially can be worse for the environment than traditional fossil fuel vehicles,” explained Rodriguez-Moodie.

“It is also important to consider the raw materials to make the batteries. Some raw materials are linked to land mines that have significant environmental and human-rights concerns. There is a growing concern that manufacturers may shift to the deep sea to source some of the minerals, which can have significant global impacts,” she added.

“We also cannot ignore how they are charged, and how batteries are manufactured and disposed of. So, it cannot be enough to just push EVs without ensuring there is also greater use of renewables in the local grid and active recycling of the batteries,” Rodriguez-Moodie said further.

She noted that there is a push to have a more circular economy, which involves greater recycling that should drive down costs for the recycled materials.

Owen Smith, general manager for the Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA), agreed that EVs represent a good opportunity for Jamaica.

“One of the advantages of EVs is that they are more energy-efficient. An EV converts more than 77 per cent of the electrical energy from the grid to power at the wheels. Conventional gasolene vehicles only convert about 12 to 30 per cent of the energy stored in gasolene to power at the wheels,” he said.

“EVs are [also] environmentally friendly. They emit no tailpipe pollutants. With no tailpipe, pure electric cars produce no carbon dioxide emissions when driving. This reduces air pollution considerably. Research has also shown that EVs can help reduce noise pollution, especially in cities where speeds are generally low because electric cars are far quieter than conventional vehicles and help to create a more peaceful environment for us all,” he added.

The general manager also suggested that EVs could reduce the country’s dependence on oil.

“… The Caribbean ranks among the 10 most oil-dependent economies globally. Using EVs would see a savings total of about US$2.2 billion in 20 years if more were used,” he said.

The JAA general manager added that while the batteries were still an issue, more was being done to make them more environmentally friendly.