This latest graphic from Visual Capitalist turned up in my news feed. I find it a bit problematic, mostly because it gives a snapshot of averages in a rapidly changing environment. It has always been true that it takes a vast amount of energy to manufacture a modern automobile. It is on par with the amount of energy the car consumes during it’s lifetime. This is confirmed by the graphic, and is more or less the story here. And it isn’t a new story.

But what this graphic doesn’t tell you is the rapid trend toward de-carbonization of the electric grid and various manufacturing industries puts the manufacturing part of the equation heading toward zero emissions, for both ICE and electric cars. This is great. But what you end up with in the long term is electric cars that are 100% emission free, and ICE cars which continue to produce large amounts of pollutants across their lifetimes. So anyone looking at this and thinking ICE cars and electric cars are about the same when it comes to emissions are not seeing the whole story.

Life Cycle Emissions: EVs vs. Combustion Engine Vehicles