Data sources and methodology

This calculator uses peer-reviewed research and government data to estimate carbon emissions. Key sources include:

Manufacturing Location Adjustments: Updated 2025 multipliers - China (1.1x multiplier), Europe (0.85x), and USA (0.9x) based on recent improvements in regional electricity grid carbon intensity during production and cleaner manufacturing processes.

Solar Charging: Assumes 40g CO2/kWh lifecycle emissions for residential solar systems, including panel manufacturing and installation.

Complete Source List

Primary Research Sources

Manufacturing Emissions & Battery Production:

  1. MIT Climate Portal - "How much CO2 is emitted by manufacturing batteries?" https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-much-co2-emitted-manufacturing-batteries
  2. MIT Climate Portal - "Are electric vehicles definitely better for the climate than gas-powered cars?" https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/are-electric-vehicles-definitely-better-climate-gas-powered-cars
  3. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute - "Lithium-ion vehicle battery production: Status 2019 on energy use, CO2 emissions, use of metals, products environmental footprint, and recycling" (Report C444, November 2019)
  4. Argonne National Laboratory - GREET Model (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation Model)
  5. Nature Communications - "Carbon footprint distributions of lithium-ion batteries and their materials" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54634-y

Battery Chemistry Specific Data:

  1. Nature Communications - "Carbon footprint distributions of lithium-ion batteries and their materials" (2024) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54634-y
  2. Environmental Science & Technology - "Greenhouse Gas Reductions Driven by Vehicle Electrification" (2016) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5c05406
  3. Do Well Do Good - "Charging Ahead: How battery makers are looking to reduce the carbon footprint of their batteries" https://dowelldogood.com/charging-ahead-how-battery-makers-are-looking-to-reduce-the-carbon-footprint-of-their-batteries/
  4. McKinsey & Company - "The race to decarbonize electric-vehicle batteries" https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/the-race-to-decarbonize-electric-vehicle-batteries
  5. PMC - "Estimating the environmental impacts of global lithium-ion battery supply chain" https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10683946/
  6. ICCT - "A global comparison of the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of combustion engine and electric passenger cars" (2022) https://theicct.org/publication/a-global-comparison-of-the-life-cycle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-of-combustion-engine-and-electric-passenger-cars/

Grid Carbon Intensity:

  1. U.S. Energy Information Administration - "How much carbon dioxide is produced per kilowatthour of U.S. electricity generation?" https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=74&t=11
  2. Carnegie Mellon University Scott Institute - "Power Sector Carbon Index" https://emissionsindex.org/
  3. Ember Energy - "US Electricity 2025 Special Report" https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/us-electricity-2025-special-report/
  4. Statista - "Power sector carbon intensity in the U.S. 2024, by state" https://www.statista.com/statistics/1133295/electric-sector-carbon-dioxide-emission-rate-by-state-united-states/

Vehicle Efficiency Data:

  1. U.S. Department of Energy - "FOTW #1373: Efficiency of EVs for Model Year 2024 Ranges from 53 to 140 MPGe" https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1373-december-16-2024-efficiency-evs-model-year-2024-ranges-53-140-mpge
  2. U.S. Department of Energy - "FOTW #1374: Model Year 2024 Electric Vehicles Offer Consumers a Wide Range in EV Efficiency" https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1374-december-23-2024-model-year-2024-electric-vehicles-offer-consumers
  3. Cars.com - "What Are the 10 Most Efficient Electric Cars?" https://www.cars.com/articles/top-10-most-efficient-electric-cars-447501/
  4. InsideEVs - "2024 U.S. Electric Cars Listed From Lowest To Highest Energy Consumption" https://insideevs.com/news/709706/electric-cars-energy-consumption-ranking/

Lifecycle Analysis & Payback Studies:

  1. FactCheck.org - "Electric Vehicles Contribute Fewer Emissions Than Gasoline-Powered Cars Over Their Lifetimes" https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribute-fewer-emissions-than-gasoline-powered-cars-over-their-lifetimes/
  2. Carbon Brief - "Factcheck: How electric vehicles help to tackle climate change" https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-electric-vehicles-help-to-tackle-climate-change/
  3. Sustainability by Numbers - "Electric cars are better for the climate than petrol or diesel" https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/ev-fossil-cars-climate
  4. ScienceDirect - "Lifecycle carbon footprint comparison between internal combustion engine versus electric transit vehicle: A case study in the U.S." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095965262300269X

Government & Regulatory Sources:

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - "Electric Vehicle Myths" https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electric-vehicle-myths
  2. U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center - "Emissions from Electric Vehicles" https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric-emissions
  3. Congressional Budget Office - "Emissions of Carbon Dioxide in the Electric Power Sector" https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58860
  4. International Energy Agency - "Global EV Outlook 2024 – Outlook for emissions reductions" https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/outlook-for-emissions-reductions

Industry & Technical Sources:

  1. Recurrent Auto - "Carbon Footprint Face-Off: A Full Picture of EVs vs. Gas Cars" https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/just-how-dirty-is-your-ev
  2. Recurrent Auto - "2025 Most Efficient EV by Size According to Testing" https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/most-efficient-ev
  3. Cotes - "Life-cycle GHG emissions of an EV compared to an ICEV" https://www.cotes.com/blog/greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-ev-vs-ice-vehicles
  4. Carbone 4 - "Increase the accuracy of carbon footprint for Li-ion battery" https://www.carbone4.com/publication-liion-battery-carbon-footprint

Additional Technical References:

  1. Our World in Data - "Carbon intensity of electricity generation" https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electricity
  2. Wikipedia - "Lithium iron phosphate battery" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery
  3. EV Database - "Most efficient electric vehicle in Europe" https://ev-database.org/compare/efficiency-electric-vehicle-most-efficient
  4. Battery Power Online - "OEMs at Advanced Automotive Battery Conference Europe 2025" https://www.batterypoweronline.com/news/oems-at-advanced-automotive-battery-conference-europe-2025/

Key Methodological Standards

Note: Some sources contain proprietary research or require institutional access. Where possible, publicly available summaries and government data sources have been prioritized for transparency.