Cradle to Grave Comparison on Emission Produced by EV and ICE Powertrains

Since the popularization of the Electric Vehicle (EV) there has been a large movement of consumers, governments, and the automotive industry due to its environmentally friendly characteristics. Unlike an IC engine, the batteries use multitudes of rare earth minerals and complex manufacturing processes which in some cases have been shown to produce as many emissions as an ICE vehicle over its entire lifespan. Another unnoticed important environmental concern has been the final recycling and disposal of the power train after its use. Unlike an ICE engine, which can be melted down or re-used, recycling batteries are much more difficult. In most cases the recycling process and the byproducts produced can be very harmful to the environment. This paper aims to be a complete cradle-to-grave analysis of all emissions produced in the life of an EV battery. This includes the mining of material required, refining of the material to a form suitable for manufacturing, manufacturing important components such as the cathode, anode and electrolyte, operational emission of the EV from the emissions produced by the powerplants to produce the necessary energy for operation as well as the emission produced to manufacture the fuel for ICE vehicles as well as the emission for recycling process and subtracting the equivalent emission for material recovered. This will then be placed against cradle-to-grave analysis of a conventional ICE engine powertrain to see the difference in emission for a lifetime of usage and infer on the ways to make EV desired solution to the current environmental issues.to make EV desired solution under the current environmental issues.