Featured EU centric, lifetime cost paper

Published online 16 January 2013, it predates learning of the diesel-cheat. However, there are some familiar patterns: Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Electric Vehicles - Hawkins - 2012 - Journal of Industrial Ecology - Wiley Online Library

. . .
We find that EVs powered by the present European electricity mix offer a 10% to 24% decrease in global warming potential (GWP) relative to conventional diesel or gasoline vehicles assuming lifetimes of 150,000 km.
. . .
Because production impacts are more significant for EVs than conventional vehicles, assuming a vehicle lifetime of 200,000 km exaggerates the GWP benefits of EVs to 27% to 29% relative to gasoline vehicles or 17% to 20% relative to diesel.
. . .
An assumption of 100,000 km decreases the benefit of EVs to 9% to 14% with respect to gasoline vehicles and results in impacts indistinguishable from those of a diesel vehicle.
. . .​

Now the effect of 'lifetime' mileage diluting the manufacturing materials and costs are well known. We saw this with the notorious CNW Marketing "Dust-to-Dust" report, nothing new nor malicious here. However, we need to give the authors some sympathy because the rapid rate of battery and EV technology advances.

In 2013, they would at best have a snapshot of the state of art in 2011 because the original submission date was 2012. As I mentioned at the start, they were not aware of the diesel cheat but this paper might be used by less scrupulous.

I'm sharing my comment with one of the authors to make sure it is a fair cop.

Bob Wilson