Did you know that the carbon footprint of your new electric car is directly affected by where you drive it? The carbon impact of your car’s electricity source—whether that’s a local utility or an out-of-state coal plant—also plays a big role.

Correctly calculating your electric vehicle’s (EV) carbon emissions is vital to keeping personal, financial, and environmental goals on track. Fortunately, there are many simple ways to decrease the emissions from your car. In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about driving an EV in order to minimize its greenhouse gas emissions and increase its value.

What Is A Gross Addition Calculator?

A Gross Addition (G/A) calculator is a tool that makes it easy to track your vehicle’s carbon emissions and your personal carbon footprint. This can be done by calculating the emissions of the car’s electricity source, and then adding in the emissions from driving.

Why Does Where I Drive Matter?

The carbon footprint of your new EV is largely determined by where you drive it. Think about your car’s electricity source. If you live near a hydroelectric dam and have access to renewable energy, your greenhouse gas emissions are going to be very low. On the other hand, if you live near a coal plant that relies on fossil fuels, your emissions will be much higher—even if you have an electric car. 

What Goes Into A Gross Addition Calculation?

A Gross bijtelling elektrische auto (addition to electric car)calculation is a metric used to measure the greenhouse gas emissions generated by an EV. It takes into account the emissions that would’ve been generated by a traditional car with the same usage, and factors in the electricity source of your vehicle.

In general, G/As are calculated at a national level – we convert electric miles traveled on a grid powered by coal to gasoline-equivalent units (GGE) and then compare them to gasoline gallons consumed. 

When Can You Expect A Net-Net Calculation?

One of the most important considerations with EVs is that your car’s net-net calculation will be different than your car’s gross addition. What are these and what do they represent? Gross addition is the total amount of carbon emissions your car produces in its life span. Net-net calculation is the cost to offset an EV’s emissions.

For example, if you live in Los Angeles and drive your EV for an hour, it emits 3.2 pounds per gallon of fuel equivalent, so you need to offset 34 pounds of CO2 in order to net out at zero emissions (0 lbs CO2). As long as you drive relatively locally and charge from a renewable source, then your net-net calculations will be minimal. 

Conclusion

The Gross Addition Calculator is not a perfect tool, but it is a powerful one. If you want to know how your driving habits affect the environment, see what your electric car is costing you in emissions or want to find out how much money you can save by switching to an electric vehicle, this calculator is worth checking out.