[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by hotlap

Carbon neutral? Offsetting what?

One of the most common criticisms of electric vehicles, including Andy Palmer’s well chosen example, is that building them introduces more carbon emissions than what is introduced through manufacture of ICE vehicles. What GM and Ford (soon to be followed by other automakers) are doing is setting up their factories to be run on renewable energy. Not only will the vehicles they build not produce more carbon emissions, they will actually neutralize the amount of carbon emissions from the manufacturing plants. Factory Zero.

What people tend not to take into account is the carbon emissions from building a vehicle happens once in the lifecycle of the vehicle. The carbon emissions from burning petroleum is continuous. So if the automaker can eliminate the carbon emissions of building the vehicle and significantly reduce the carbon emissions of operating it, it is a win for the environment. Could the automakers get to “net zero” manufacturing of ICE vehicles? Probably. But then there’s that nagging little issue of continued carbon emissions with every key start.