David Iaconangelo. (2020, September 29). Ninety Percent of U.S. Cars Must Be Electric by 2050 to Meet Climate Goals. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ ninety-percent-of-u-s-cars-must-be -electric-by-2050-to-meet-climate-goals/

 

This article highlights the grim prediction that the United States is not expected to meet the Paris climate accord’s goal of limiting climate change to an increase of 2 degrees celsius and the drastic change in transportation that must occur to meet it. In order to reduce our emissions enough to meet the goal, 90% of cars in the United States would need to be electric by the year 2050, meaning all new car sales would likely have to be electric by 2035. This shift in the market is made even more challenging when taking into account the charging and power infrastructure required to fuel such a massive increase in electric vehicles. If 90% of our cars in the United States were electric with our current power grid, it would require 41% of the country’s entire power supply. Ultimately, the article concludes that although electrification of vehicles in the United States is key to overcoming climate change, there are many difficulties that must be overcome before we reach our goal of 9 out of 10 cars being electric. 

 

It’s undeniable that electrification of vehicles in the United States will greatly reduce the country’s carbon emissions, however the timeframe in which this shift needs to occur to meet our climate goals will be very difficult to meet. The task of widespread adoption of electric vehicles within the next 15 years will require major advancements in technologies such as lithium ion batteries and renewable power generation to accommodate the increase in demand for batteries and power. With this being said, electric vehicles are not without their own potential environmental drawbacks. For example, the lithium in their batteries is a finite resource and if charging stations are not powered by renewable energy, the cars are still indirectly responsible for carbon emissions. Therefore, I believe it is important that environmental scientists be included in the planning for the switch to electric vehicles to ensure the process is done in the least environmentally damaging way possible.