Comparison of carbon dioxide gas emissions during production, operation of an electric car and a car with an internal combustion engine

Abstract

Due to the increase in the number of cars with internal combustion engines, there is a significant increase in emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere. Over the past 100 years, emissions of CO₂ into the atmosphere have increased by 25%, which has caused the temperature on the planet to rise by 1.5 degrees C. This led to an increase in the greenhouse effect. In order to restore normal natural processes in the atmosphere, it is necessary to reduce emissions of harmful gases. Large volumes of gases are released into the atmosphere as a result of the operation of many industries, the largest of which is transport (up to 30% of global CO₂ emissions are caused by transport). In large cities, atmospheric pollution by combustion products of the fuel-air mixture of cars is significant.

One of the options for solving the problem of the greenhouse effect is to replace cars with internal combustion engines with electric cars. An important aspect that must be considered is not only the process of operating a gasoline car and an electric car, but also the processes of their production. After all, the process of manufacturing traction batteries is extremely high-tech and complex, and the cumulative emissions of CO₂ during the production of an electric car exceed the amount of emissions during the production of a similar gasoline car. It is also worth noting that thermal power plants that burn organic fuel are widespread for electricity generation in Europe. The paper calculates CO₂ emissions during the production and operation of the gasoline Mercedes-Benz B200 and the electric car that was created on the basis of the Mercedes-Benz B200 – the Mercedes-Benz B250E Electric Drive.

Calculations of CO₂ emissions were carried out for the production, operation and disposal process with periods of 5 years, 10 years, 15 years and mileages of 150,000 km, 300,000 km, and 450,000 km. According to the calculations, after running both vehicles for 150,000 km. the amount of CO₂ emissions is the same, both for an already produced car with an internal combustion engine, and for the production of a new electric car with the generation of electricity for its charging.