Gasoline versus electric cars? Here’s how their life cycle emissions compare in Canada

Written By Peter Allan

By Barry Saxifrage

The overwhelming climate damage from Canadian cars comes from burning the gasoline to move them around. Over the full life cycle of Canadian gasoline cars and electric cars, the 70 tonnes of CO2 from burning gasoline absolutely crushes everything else.

To help visualize the gargantuan scale of gasoline car emissions — and how much less climate damage an electric car driven in Canada causes — I've created a series of charts.

Let's start by looking at the most consequential stage in a car's life cycle: the fuel.

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Peter Allan
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