Meghana KandraTesla’s report, “2020 Impact Report” shows how their products help reduce tons of carbon emission last year. Not only did they help accelerate the world towards sustainability, but also created tough competition which the automobile industry is trying to keep up with.
Image credits- Tesla
To determine how Tesla helped reduce carbon emissions, knowing each vehicle’s impact is important. On an average, ICE vehicle emits 69 tons of Carbon dioxide over its lifetime including manufacturing. While some manufacturing phases of Tesla cars can result in carbon emissions, that total emission for each car is drastically reduced. Below is the table published by Tesla, about the difference each Tesla vehicle makes in the United States.
Image credits- Tesla
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, manually a typical passenger owning a private vehicle can have 4.6-tons carbon emissions every year. The evaluation comes, considering 22.00 miles per gallon and average drive around 11,500 miles per year. Every gallon of gasoline creates 8,887 grams of CO2. Evidently, most of the carbon emissions are from the fuel used by cars.
Tesla’s other products
In the above information, Tesla included both grids charged and solar charges differently. Because some Tesla users have Tesla charging plug-ins installed in their homes. Such homes which are connected to the main power supply are largely produced by coal or other sources with carbon emissions. Though their solar roof system is not available in multiple locations yet, solar roofs and battery power backups played an important role. In Australia, Germany, and the US, Tesla’s Powerwall was used in various locations.
Energy generation from Tesla Solar products vastly exceeds energy consumption of Tesla factories pic.twitter.com/VchhrfJPKc
— Tesla (@Tesla) August 9, 2021
Also, Tesla’s factory also largely consumes solar power, making it an almost sustainable process possible. Additionally, Giga Shanghai is also building a battery recycling plant. Their minimalistic design also adds to the non-wastage of materials used. As per their reports, Tesla batteries have 92% recycling of materials used in them. Even a 9-year-old Tesla Model S battery could be recycled and used again.
Video source: Tesla
Global presence
By this year Tesla is going to have a vast global presence after its factory in Germany starts production. In 2020, their Giga Shangai production started and the factory started exporting cars to Europe and other Asian countries. As per their reports, Europe’s Tesla car’s carbon emission through grid charge seems to be relatively low. China has the highest potential to increase company sales, has more sales and more carbon emissions compared to Europe.
Image credits- Tesla
Image credits- Tesla
Owning an EV boosts the world’s transition towards zero carbon emission. Despite having the grid power being supplied from a source with carbon emissions. Having an EV reduced the carbon emissions drastically in comparison. The data shows it all.
Note: The graphs and numbers are taken from Tesla’s sustainability report 2020.