EVs Come In A Variety Of Colors… Including Green
***This content is sponsored by Audi Atlanta***
The number of electric vehicles on the world’s roads is surging, hitting a record number last year. But as electric cars become more popular, some question just how environmentally friendly they are.
The batteries in electric vehicles, for example, charge on power that is coming straight off the electric grid — which is itself often powered by fossil fuels. But, experts broadly agree that electric vehicles create a lower carbon footprint over the course of their lifetime than do cars and trucks that use traditional, internal combustion engines. Last year, researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Nijmegen in The Netherlands found that in 95% of the world, driving an electric car is better for the environment than driving a gasoline-powered car.
But even excluding the drivetrain, EVs are becoming more and more sustainable, primarily based on their building components. Companies such as Audi are considering the environmental impacts of their products throughout their entire life cycle.
“The definition of a premium automobile is changing,” said Rüdiger Recknagel, Audi’s chief environmental officer. “It’s now who’s using the best materials with the least environmental impact.”
Companies are turning their attention to reducing the effect their products have on the environment, and carmakers are turning away from traditional materials that are hard to recycle, such as leather and plastics, and looking to alternatives that continue to convey quality. In manufacturing as well, they have moved to recycled components to use fewer resources and cut down on emissions.
At Audi, the Mission: Zero program hopes to achieve a 30 percent reduction of vehicle-specific carbon dioxide emissions by 2025 compared with 2015, and to achieve carbon neutrality across its entire network by 2050; that includes suppliers, manufacturing, logistics and dealer operations.
Vehicle manufacturers have figured out innovative ways to use recycled material in production such as upholstery. In many markets, available seat material in Audi’s upcoming Q4 electric vehicle is made from recycled 1.5-liter PET bottles. Bottles are ground up to create a granulate that is turned into a polyester yarn. The 2022 Audi Q4 is arriving this fall at a starting price of $43,900, making an EV more accessible than some may imagine. Audi’s new E-tron GT electric vehicle will offer a black design package that uses Dinamica, a suede-like microfiber produced from polyester waste, for seats. Lenzing, an Austrian company, creates fiber from trees grown in sustainable forests and is working on projects with Audi to create woven “sustainable luxury” material as a leather substitute.
But it doesn’t end with using sustainable materials. When a vehicle reaches the end of its life, recycling sustainable products can still be a challenge. And while not an immediate problem, carmakers are figuring out how to eventually recycle what will become millions of electrical vehicle batteries and their manufacturing scrap. Some are taking unique approaches. Audi is working with a German-Indian company to use recycled batteries to supply green energy to rural Indian villages. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found in a study that used car batteries could continue to be used for a decade or more as backup storage for solar power.
While experts agree that a transition from gasoline-powered cars to EVs is not a silver bullet for climate change mitigation; that it needs to go hand-in-hand with societal change that promotes greater use of public transportation and alternative modes of travel, including bicycles and walking, at car manufacturers’ such as Audi, sustainability is no longer just something that is nice to have; instead, sustainability has moved to the core of corporate activity, becoming a central corporate goal and an absolute necessity for ensuring future success.
Learn more about EVs by visiting our EV page.
About Audi Atlanta – Audi Atlanta is a Jim Ellis Family Dealership servicing the Atlanta area and beyond since 1983. The facility delivers about 1,800 new and 1,000 Certified Pre-owned Audis annually with a robust inventory to meet the demand. Audi Atlanta is the nation’s #1 Certified Pre-owned Audi dealership for 12 of the previous 13 years and 2019 and 2020’s #1 Audi Sport dealer in the nation. This Audi Magna Society dealer has been awarded that title for 15 years total and 4 of those prestigious honors were Audi Magna Elite. Learn more about the Audi e-tron by visiting: audiatlanta.com
