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Electric Vehicles will not solve environmental woes – report

By Matt Brogan |

A new report by the UK’s Environmental Transport Association has dismissed the notion that a wholesale switch to electric cars would automatically reduce CO2 emissions and dependence on oil.

While it admitted that there were significant potential environmental benefits in a switch to electric vehicles, these were wholly dependent on changes in the way electricity was generated, energy taxed and CO2 emissions regulated.

ETA director Andrew Davis said under the current EU emissions trading scheme, sales of electric cars are likely to result in higher overall CO2 emissions and oil consumption.

“Whilst the report is not intended to dampen enthusiasm for electric vehicles, their introduction should not be viewed as a panacea; significant changes to the way we produce and tax power are needed before we will reap any benefits,” he said.

The report found that electric cars powered by wind or solar energy are currently the cleanest form of personal transport, but said that hybrids perform better if the electricity comes from coal.

plug-in-prius-610

It also suggested that the premium price and performance below that of petrol powered cars would make it difficult for electric vehicles to compete head-on with conventional vehicles within the next two decades.

The ETA believes that it is unlikely that electric vehicles will make up more than one-quarter of all new sales by 2050, but feels that more should be done in order to speed the uptake of the technology and manage the transition.

wind_turbines_north_dakota

It suggested tightening long-term CO2 standards for cars to 80 g/km by 2020 and 60 g/km by 2025 and increasing fuel taxes at the same time, believing that a lack of stringent CO2 standards removed the main incentive for motor industry to invest in electrification.

The report also suggested that on-board metering of the quality and quantity of electricity used in electric cars must be measured in order to manage and regulate demand for electric vehicles.

plug-in-hybrid-car-phev

Its final recommendation was to de-carbonise the power sector, closing loopholes in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and further tightening the cap.

The ETA said if the trading scheme remained unchanged, sales of electric cars were likely to result in higher overall CO2 emissions and oil consumption.

by Tim Beissmann


 
  • AB

    Sounds like a good honest report.

  • bob

    Yep. Its all pretty logical.

    Now lets sit back and watch how the Carbon-based energy suppliers will start to claim that the authors are cross dressing weirdos and should not be believed. How decarbonising the energy industry will destroy the economy and the world with it. (although it won’t matter much because we won’t be able to breath or see through the smog by then)

  • Alan

    Good to see that someone in the eletric car camp has a brain and some common sense. This report seems to be very logical, and is also the main reason why I don’t believe in electric cars for Australia seeing as the majority of our power comes from carbon based sources.

  • Paul

    This is pretty predictable positioning in the lead up to Copenhagen.

    The report states “hybrids perform better if the electricity comes from coal.” ???? HUH. Under what possible logic is it better to charge (as yet to be sold to the general public) plug-in hybrids with power generated by coal as opposed to wind or solar?

    And commentators are trying to claim this report sounds ‘logical’ ??? LOL

    The ‘report’ failed to include (as most negative EV reports do) the facts that EVs consume as little as 1/10th the energy of a comparable ICE car per mile, so following that LOGIC 10x EVs can be powered with the energy used by a single ICE car.

    • Enzo

      Matt, could you please provide a link to the report? Thank you.

    • lazybones

      I would guess the report doesn’t consider the Co2 emissions from producing oil and refining it to petrol. The comparison is probably based only on tail pipe emissions of ICE cars compared to energy production emssions from coal to make electricity for EV’s. This would explain the bizarre comparison with Hybrid cars.

    • bob

      It says Hybrids. It doesn’t say plug-in hybrids.

  • lazybones

    CA do you have the link to the original report so we can read it?

    “sales of electric cars were likely to result in higher overall CO2 emissions and oil consumption.” Confused about that statement!

  • MJ

    Hmmm, 12 years ago, how many people had mobile phones? Hardly anybody. Now there are over 4 billion active mobile phones worldwide!

    Now hardly anybody has electric cars, in 12 years, some are predicting that more than 50% of all new cars will be electric. Believe it.

  • Yanzo

    i think city living and parkour will be the future

    • bob

      I hope so.

      Except if we have to drop to the shops to get a bottle of coke. Might have to leave it sit for a bit before we open it.

  • http://carz.com/ Carz

    There seems to be lots of electric car concepts…but it sounds very promising and reasonable. It’s also possible that electric cars would be the main vehicles of the future.

  • http://carnewsandreviews.info Car News and Reviews

    The car makers are adapting to the environmental demands. Now it’s electricity producing companies’ turn to follow. They are the next critical link in the chain.

    Personally I am very optimistic about electric cars. And I guess the next years will prove me right. ;)

  • John of Perth

    I have been wondering for some time what are the alternatives being presented for the transport/heavy haulage/mining/shipping sector – I cannot see how electric is an option here. Cars represent a smaller proportion of this consumption equation.

    • bob

      Electric Rail.

  • bob

    All this is very interesting. But have been thinking about the recent explosion in cars in India, and China. This is double sided. Initially it will be a MASSIVE environmental problem. But since they’re part of the “new” emerging economies, that’s where we’ll see some interesting innovations for providing affordable solutions to these problems.

    Of course that’s assuming they realise there’s a problem.

  • hsr0601

    1. The EV battery is expected to act as a catalyst to accelerate development of sustainable power, specifically as a storage for wind power at nighttime and for solar panel system via recycling. In return, this situation has a chance to bring a solid win-win outcome — rendering EVs affordable.

    2. In many cases, power plants like a nuclear reactor maintain operation during night, and EVs could take full advantage of the surplus energy :

    With the concept of “V2H” (vehicle to home), the vehicle can supply 100V electricity stored in its on-board lithium-ion batteries to electric appliances in a house.

    It is possible to charge the batteries at night, when electricity is cheaper, and use it for home appliances during daytime, Mitsubishi Motors said.

    And the company claims that the batteries can provide almost all the electricity used in a normal household throughout the day.

  • ray

    Where is the link to the actual UK government report?

    I would be very surprised if the UK report actually stated, as this article alleges:

    “.. said that hybrids perform better if the electricity comes from coal.”

    How could any hybrid perform better, presumably talking about the exhaust emissions, just because the electricity comes from coal rather than hydro-electricity?