The lifetime climate footprint of an electric car is now smaller than that of any other type of car – no matter where you drive it in the United States. The finding comes from the most detailed and comprehensive comparison of greenhouse gas emissions from different vehicle types yet conducted.

Transportation is responsible for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and 57% of those emissions come from light-duty vehicles such as passenger cars and pickup trucks. “Car buyers can play a key role in reducing climate pollution by purchasing electric vehicles,” says study team member Greg Keoleian, director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

In the new study, Keoleian and his collaborators conducted a life cycle analysis of the manufacture, use, and disposal of different kinds of 2025 model year vehicles. They analyzed 35 different combinations of vehicle class (pickups, SUVs, and passenger sedans) and technology (internal combustion engine, hybrid, plug-in hybrid with 35- or 50-mile battery range, and battery electric with 200-, 300-, or 400-mile range).

The researchers examined the impact of driving county by county. This was necessary because weather impacts vehicle performance (electric vehicles especially are less efficient in the cold), and the greenhouse gas emissions of electric vehicles depend on whether the local electric grid is powered mainly by coal, for example, or by renewables.

The analysis is the first to show that battery electric vehicles have lower lifetime emissions than all other vehicle types in every county across the contiguous United States, the researchers report in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Keoleian says he was surprised by how much better the battery electric vehicles fared in the current study than in a similar analysis his team conducted a few years ago. “This reflects the continued progress toward grid decarbonization and improved vehicle fuel efficiency.  This is encouraging.”

On average across the country, gasoline-powered pickups have the greatest climate impact, with 486 grams of carbon dioxide emitted per mile. A hybrid pickup has 23% lower emissions and a fully electric pickup 75% lower. Electric sedans have the lowest overall emissions at just 81 g CO₂/mile on average.

“The life cycle emissions savings from battery electric vehicles are tremendous compared to other powertrains,” Keoleian says.  Depending on the vehicle type, an EV with a 300-mile range has emissions 31–36% lower than a plug-in hybrid with a 50-mile range, 63–65% lower than a hybrid, and 71–73% lower than a gasoline-powered vehicle.

For electric vehicles, the overall climate impact depends on the vehicle’s range. Greater range means a bigger battery, which results in more emissions during manufacturing. This highlights the importance of choosing a vehicle that matches individual driving needs – not only the smallest vehicle but the shortest battery range that can do the job.

The researchers also evaluated how emissions depend on a person’s driving habits – whether they drive mostly in the city or on the highway, and whether they use their vehicle mainly for commuting, for occasional long road trips, or for work as a contractor. The study is the first to evaluate how carrying cargo affects the lifetime climate impact of a pickup truck.

Even if an electric pickup is loaded with 2,500 pounds of cargo, it still emits less than 30% on average of what a gasoline pickup driven with an empty cargo bed emits, the researchers found. In a city like Seattle with a grid that uses mostly hydropower, the cargo load increases pickup truck emissions by a mere 1% per mile. In Cincinnati, where electricity is generated mainly from fossil fuels, the emissions increase by 20%. But that still beats the gasoline pickup.

The researchers also created a free online calculator where people can estimate their own greenhouse gas emissions based on their driving habits, the type of vehicle they drive, and where they live.

Even though the advantages of electrification are now country-wide, the calculator is still an important communications tool “at a time when EV tax credits are being terminated soon and other climate policies are being threatened,” Keoleian says. “There is still misinformation being reported regarding the advantages of electric vehicles.”

Source: Smith E. et al. “Greenhouse Gas Reductions Driven by Vehicle Electrification across Powertrains, Classes, Locations, and Use Patterns.” Environmental Science & Technology 2025.

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