This article and information cited doesn't seem realistic to me. I don't have time to do a deep dive into their calculations but the claim that EV's are 10x more energy efficient over their lifetime just doesn't hold water to me or is based on invalid assumptions, e.g. all EV electricity comes from a "clean power source" such as nuclear power, wind, hydroelectric. Excess power for more EV's largely does not come from clean power sources.<p>Most "excess power" for EV's comes from fossil fuel -- that is, given our current power infrastructure and supply of clean energy, when add power demand from more EV's... that supply is mostly coming from natural gas (maybe some coal too, yikes).<p>EV energy lifecycle is roughly: (0) recover/frack/process natural gas out of ground and transport to power station (1) Burn natural gas to make electrical energy, (2) transmit electricity to charging station... which has transmission loss, (3) charge EV... which has loss, (4) discharge energy from battery to motors...which has loss, (5) convert electrical power to mechanical power to the wheels in the motor... which has loss.<p>Internal combustion engine (ICE) energy lifecycle is: (0) recover crude oil and refine crude to fuel, transport to gas station (1) fill car... very low energy loss, much lower than charge dishcarge of EV's (2) burn fuel in ICE<p>Thermodynamic efficiency of burning natural gas is about 45-55% depending upon plant design.
There are transmission and charge/discharge/conversion losses associated with getting the electricity to EV's and using it.<p>Burning petrol fuels in an ICE is about 30-35% efficient in modern engines. There are higher carbon associated with recovering and processing crude oil relative to natural gas.<p>When discussing fossil fuel power plants: natural gas plants are about 2x to 2.5x more carbon efficient than coal or other fossil fuel plants on mass of CO2 per kWh generated.<p>I'm not going to run detailed numbers but more than 10x carbon operating efficiency for EV's over ICE's is high. I think the operational efficiency benefit is only 2-3x, which is still a lot. I also think these studies are probably under reporting energy requirements for EV battery production because so much of the supply chain is in the developing world or China and it is hard to get accurate data.<p>That all being said, EV's are a big part of our future and part of the solution toward building a more energy efficient world.