That their life-cycle carbon footprint is at least halved compared with a combustion-engine or non-plug-in hybrid model when charged in France, with the manufacturing carbon debt paid back at around 70,000 km for a 60 kWh compact car. The opinion also highlights better air quality (no exhaust emissions, fewer non-exhaust particulates), reduced noise in cities, and the downside: six times more critical metals and minerals than a combustion-engine car, excluding steel and aluminium, with their recycling still needing industrial-scale development in Europe. Its conclusions do not apply to plug-in hybrids, whose actual emissions are 5 to 6 times higher than type-approval figures.
Read the source article: What is the environmental impact of an electric car?