Environmental Aspects of the Electric Vehicle

The purpose of this chapter is to understand the complete environmental impact of Electric Vehicles (EVs) compared with traditional combustion engines (ICE). In addition, a review of how European rules have been adapting to cover these impacts is presented. Although the typical approach to the problem is based on the evaluation of the emissions during the use of vehicles, the approach presented here covers the whole life of the Vehicle (manufacturing, use of the vehicle and end of life and recycling) and estimates the amount of material and energy used, the emissions or the toxicity. Results show that EVs have an environmental impact, which is concentrated in the manufacturing phase. Compared with traditional ICEs, EVs have clearly lower emissions when driving, which is certainly critical when defining air quality policies in urban regions. The importance of coordination in environmental policies regional and worldwide is therefore required to guarantee a sustainable and fair transition to a decarbonized transportation.