There’s this one argument that trumps me which is that even though we buy eco friendly vehicle, is it fully environment friendly as in is the production process environment friendly or is it as bad or worse than the production process of petrol vehicles? Because when we say it’s eco friendly it should truly be at all levels. Right? I’m not sure if this was discussed earlier and this might be an elementary question but I wanna win this argument , please give your opinions thanks!
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Well, with the science and technology we have today, environment friendly is generally synonymous to comparatively less impacting. Production of Li cells and generating electricity for example is impacting, but it could be put at a lesser scale when compared to the whole oil refining and transporting process.
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Here is a quick read in why EVs are less polluting than a ICE vehicle.
In India, for example Karnataka, has a higher percentage of power being generated from renewable sources. Hence, overall carbon impact is lesser than the average EV sold anywhere else in the country.
Or you could take a stand and put in a Solar PV system to nullify that to Zero by using that to charge your EVs. I did that a few months back and till last month have been Grid Positive (put in more to the grid than I utilized).
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There’s also the manufacturing angle of EVs that one needs to keep in mind. EVs are actually more polluting to produce but more than make up for it over its lifetime by using electricity - partial or fully renewable. Basically becomes a greener option with time.
Here’s a video on cars - EV vs fuel. Similar conclusions can be made for 2 wheelers 
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There’s no single magic bullet that’s gonna solve pollution problems, it’s about how much each of us do in our individual capacities. As an individual, all of us can be responsible in making small changes that affect the environment in a positive way, For a lot of us, we can’t control or estimate how much environment friendly production is.
For me the argument is solid, it’s about the efficiency of conversion of energy at each step Raw materials -> Production -> Riding on roads. EVs are much more efficient at converting energy even from Raw coal to kms on your odo. ICE vehicles have a lot of things to catch up, especially if you consider supply chains of crude oil, refining, transportation, distribution etc.
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Adding to abishek’s answer, there are also a few biased reports out there on ecological impacts of the EV industry. Most of them blinds out the …
… part and amplify on the…
But definitely, EVs are a move to the right direction as far as we can right now.
So let’s all have these reports with a grain of salt, be either side of the revolution.
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The main reason EVs are more polluting to produce is because EVs are a relatively new product. With advancements in technology and efficiency in the production and supply chains, we can bring that down eventually. But as for the usage, EVs are far greener because our grids are becoming greener day by day which helps in reducing the pollution and carbon footprint, this is so great that EVs would’ve polluted less in just a couple years of usage(and that is today, future is even better). If you install solar panels on your roof you can completely run your EV on sunshine:sunny:
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Agreed. Manufacturing processes, battery tech for vehicles etc are still relatively new. ICE has had decades to perfect it and in the end is still more polluting than EVs all things considered.
What is projected is that EVs will keep getting more efficient at each of the above steps and thereby have an exponential effect on reducing pollution.
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Correction → Centuries to perfect it and yet companies churn out gas guzzlers.
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Big multi national brands are still trying to improve on efficiency of Internal Combustion Engine through various techniques within the cylinder…usually the efficiency of an average IC engine is around 20 - 30 % but manufacturers are hitting high efficiency numbers as high as 45%…but EV’s are still better than any of those since the energy transfer is much more efficient.
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Found this interesting initiative in Singapore
From 2021, all producers including sellers/retailers are responsible for the recycle/waste collection at zero cost.
Hope this rule comes to India as well. I wish Ather takes this initiative pro-actively.
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