Electric vehicles are often referred to as zero-emission vehicles, however that's a bit misleading when the electricity comes from burning oil and coal. In places like British Columbia and Quebec, where most generation is hydroelectric, EV emissions are close to zero. Considering coal still plays a large part in in the Nova Scotia generation mix, I decided to compare the CO2 emissions of gas and electric cars.
According to NSPower 2021 reporting, each kWh of electricity produced results in 603 grams of CO2 emissions. Canada's most popular electric cars are the Tesla models 3 and Y, the Ford Mach-E, and the Hyundai models Kona and Ioniq 5. According to NRCan, it takes an average of 18 kWh of electricity to drive these vehicles 100 km. Since EV chargers and batteries are not 100% efficient, about 10 to 15% of the grid power will be wasted as heat. Assuming 12% losses, the CO2 emissions can be calculated as:
18 kWh/100km * .6 kg CO2 per kWh * 1.12 loss factor = 12.1 kg/100km
Referring again to NRCan, the average new car with a gasoline engine has a fuel efficiency of 8 L/100km. Burning 1L of gasoline produces 2.3 kg of CO2, so the CO2 emissions can be calculated as:
8 L/100km * 2.3 kg/L = 18.4 kg/100km
This means a gas-power car produces about 50% more CO2 than an electric car charged from the NS grid. Nova Scotia is slowly reducing the amount of oil and coal used for power generation. If you don't want to wait, the quick way to get to zero emissions is to install solar PV panels to generate enough power to charge your vehicle.
