«The first is that the environmental impact of building the car doesn't get much coverage and focus is on the impact of running the car.»
From what I've seen it gets far too much coverage because it seems like one on the many list of excuses why electric cars are "just as bad" as ICE cars.
The key part being that "just as bad": the vast environmental impact of building a car will always be the steel/aluminum/plastics of the frame and interiors. That doesn't really change no matter what sort of car you buy, except that obviously bigger, heavier cars have more impact than smaller ones and electric cars typically have the most incentives to be small and efficient in frame size and cabin weight, too.
Yes, batteries have a slightly different environmental impact at build time than a traditional gas engine, but they are more easily recycled too. Don't forget the environmental impacts of oils and lubricants and coolants used for all those moving parts in a traditional and randomly spilled across the pavements of a city and constantly (every few months) topped up or replaced. Operating environmental impact is hugely different, and that probably matters a lot more than the build time environmental impact.
From what I've seen it gets far too much coverage because it seems like one on the many list of excuses why electric cars are "just as bad" as ICE cars.
The key part being that "just as bad": the vast environmental impact of building a car will always be the steel/aluminum/plastics of the frame and interiors. That doesn't really change no matter what sort of car you buy, except that obviously bigger, heavier cars have more impact than smaller ones and electric cars typically have the most incentives to be small and efficient in frame size and cabin weight, too.
Yes, batteries have a slightly different environmental impact at build time than a traditional gas engine, but they are more easily recycled too. Don't forget the environmental impacts of oils and lubricants and coolants used for all those moving parts in a traditional and randomly spilled across the pavements of a city and constantly (every few months) topped up or replaced. Operating environmental impact is hugely different, and that probably matters a lot more than the build time environmental impact.