What you need to know: Are electric cars actually climate killers?

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Cars emit emissions. And this is not good for nature. Solution: Cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. Unfortunately, such cars are often very heavy because they have a large battery. And big batteries are bad for the environment. The bigger the battery, the worse it gets. On average, a new electric car weighs about the same as a small forest elephant: 2,000 kilos. A diesel or gasoline car weighs less than a polar bear; approximately 400 kilos.

Everyone who buys an electric car wants to cover as many kilometers as possible without recharging the battery with electricity. To achieve this, two variables are very important: How much electricity does the electric car consume per kilometer? And: How many kilowatt-hours are stored in the battery? For comparison: an internal combustion engine can travel up to 1,700 kilometers on 70 liters of diesel (59 kilos). An electric car can only travel around 600 kilometers with a 600-kilogram battery. To go any further, an even heavier battery would be needed. Problem: Battery production requires too much energy and too much raw material. The larger the battery, the more CO₂ produced. The 600-pound battery in question produces approximately ten tons of CO₂ during production. In the case of electric cars, it is battery production, not driving, that harms the climate, as long as they are powered by green electricity.

Of course, electric cars are more ecological throughout their entire lifespan than internal combustion engines. However, lightweight electric cars are better for the environment than heavy ones. Like the Hyundai Kona Electric, which covered 410 kilometers in the ADAC test drive despite a small battery (65.4 kilowatt hours). Weight: 1.77 tons.

This makes it light for an electric car: a newly registered electric car in Switzerland weighs on average 2.02 tonnes, a hybrid car 1.76 tonnes and an internal combustion car 1.61 tonnes.

Electric car manufacturers have greatly increased their range over the decade with increasingly larger batteries. But the weight exploded. Electric cars gained weight by an average of 30 percent during this period. This is four times more than for internal combustion engines, according to the Federal Statistics Office.

Source :Blick