The environmental impacts of cars, explained
From tailpipe emissions to road infrastructure, cars affect the environment in big ways.
The environmental impact of cars doesn’t just come from vehicle emissions. The entire life cycle of motor vehicles can have big negative impacts on the planet. From the materials used in production to maintenance and beyond, here are the top concerns when it comes to cars and the environment.
Large carbon footprint
Cars consume lots of energy before they even make it to the open road. Automotive production leaves a giant footprint because materials like steel, rubber, glass, plastics, paints, and many more must be created before a new ride is ready to roll.
Similarly, the end of a car’s life doesn’t mark the end of its environmental impact. Plastics, toxic battery acids, and other products may stay in the environment long after the car becomes inoperable.
(Our car tires are poisoning salmon—and maybe us too)
Fortunately, junkyard pile-ups are becoming much smaller than they were in the past. About three-quarters of today’s average car, including the bulk of a steel frame and electric vehicle batteries, can be recycled.
Still, production, recycling, and disposal costs to the environment are difficult to quantify and largely beyond the control of most consumers.
Fuel consumption and emissions
Most of an automobile’s environmental impact—perhaps 80 to 90 percent—comes from fuel consumption and emissions. Climate scientists say air pollution and greenhouse gases are driving global warming. Fortunately, the level of that impact is very much under the control of the driver.
(The forgotten history of New York’s first electric taxi fleet—in the 1800s)
However, petroleum products raise environmental red flags even before they are burned. Extracting them from the earth is an energy-intensive process that can damage local ecosystems.
Shipping fuels consume large amounts of energy and present the risk of occasional environmental disasters, such as oil spills. As world demand rises and unconventional fuel sources, such as oil sands, become more economically viable, the ecological impacts of petroleum extraction may also increase dramatically.
(Inside the rush to buy an electric vehicle)
That’s one more reason why fuel efficiency is so important. It’s also partly why electric vehicles (EVs) can help reduce environmental impacts. They don’t have internal combustion engines.
However, EVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) can still impact the environment due to production. Additionally, because PHEVs run on gas as well as electricity, they can also have emissions. However, that impact is difficult to measure due to factors that can vary, including battery operation, charge frequency, and how the car is driven.
(Interested in an electric car? Here’s what you should know before you buy.)
Air pollution
Cars and trucks are America’s biggest air quality compromisers, producing about one-third of all U.S. air pollution.
The nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, and other toxins from tailpipe emissions are especially troubling. They leave tailpipes at street level, where humans breathe the polluted air directly into their lungs.
That can make auto emissions an even more immediate concern to human health than toxins emitted high in the sky by industrial smokestacks.
Infrastructure impacts
Another associated impact of cars is the building of roads to support them, as well as the urban sprawl that tends to follow in their wake, especially in places lacking adequate public transportation. Road building has a big impact on emissions and wildlife as well.
(To build the cities of the future, we must get out of our cars)
These effects are difficult to quantify and tease out of other factors, such as population growth and resource consumption.
Unfortunately, these environmental impacts from cars also are not easily addressed by technological advancements like fuel efficiency and electric propulsion.
