ORIGINAL REPORTING: Questions about EV battery degradation refuted

Face the heat: Should EV incentives be restructured for battery degradation? A new study advocates scaling electric vehicle incentives based on how quickly batteries wear out, but critics say it misses the bigger picture.

Herman K. Trabish, Aug. 28, 2018 (Utility Dive)

Editor’s note: EV advocates believe the study research highlighted in this story was influenced by fossil fuel funding.

The striking growth of electric vehicles (EVs) has been supported by policies intended to eliminate emissions and transform the transportation sector. A century after EVs fell out of the car market because gasoline-powered vehicles were cheaper to operate, forecasts show battery-powered transportation could take the market back because it is cleaner and becoming affordable. But a new paper proposes revising EV policy because batteries degrade over time, increasing costs and emissions. EV experts say the research is incomplete and outdated.

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EVs will be 24% of U.S. light-vehicle fleet in 2030, according to "Predictive modeling of battery degradation and greenhouse gas emissions" from Case Western Reserve University researchers. They will be 33% of the global feet in 2040, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s 2018 forecast, and 30%, according to BP’s 2018 forecast. Transportation sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 28% of total U.S. GHGs in 2016 and cars and trucks were 83% of that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA has targeted a 36.5% reduction in light duty vehicle fleet GHG emissions by 2025, the Case Western paper reports, but with degradation and internal resistance increases, the charge-discharge cycle becomes significantly less efficient. Emissions from EVs vary with the power mixes on the grids charging them between a 50 MPG equivalent and an 80 MPG equivalent, according to a 2018 assessment by Union of Concerned Scientists… click here for more

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