Due to the UK’s relatively clean electricity mix, a typical electric car is estimated to save around 65 per cent greenhouse gas emissions compared to an equivalent conventional petrol car.
A report from engineering firm Ricardo calculates that by 2030, over their entire life-cycle, EVs could see about 76 per cent lower emissions in future due to improvements in battery technology, battery manufacturing and end-of-life treatment as well as improved battery technology and a further decarbonised UK electricity grid.
By 2050, these savings could increase to 81 per cent as carbon emission from EV production comes close to parity with conventional vehicles.
Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles also offer the opportunity to deliver large emissions savings for delivery lorries and other commercial transportation. By 2050, a hydrogen-powered articulated lorry could save 73 per cent GHG emissions versus a conventional diesel lorry.
The findings are contained in a new report prepared for the Department for Transport by Ricardo, a global energy and environmental consultancy.
Nikolas Hill, an associate director at Ricardo, said: “We are all aware of the operational environmental benefits of driving an electric car, but this study has provided further confirmation that those benefits are also significant in the UK when considering the full life of the vehicle from manufacturing to the end-of-life”
The effects of fuel consumption dominate the overall lifecycle impact for conventional petrol and diesel vehicles, including hybrids, currently accounting for more than 82 per cent of GHG emissions for passenger cars and vans, and is significantly more for higher-mileage heavy-duty vehicles.The analysis also showed that while EVs consistently perform better than all other powertrains for all road vehicle types, hydrogen vehicles can also offer the opportunity to deliver large savings compared with conventional modes of transport.
Hydrogen-fuelled vehicles could become a particularly important option for longer distance road freight 🚇🚍🚋 as they can be topped up faster than their fully electric counterparts.
Transport Minister Trudy Harrison said:It’s fantastic to see the government’s move to power up the 🔌electrical revolution is being backed by this ground-breaking analysis.
“We’ve already committed £2.5bn to support the rollout of EVs across the UK, cleaning up our air, boosting green jobs opportunities in our towns and villages, and improving convenience for drivers.”Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are generally divided into all-electric or battery electric vehicles (BEVs), that run only on batteries, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), that combine battery power with internal combustion engines. The popularity of electric vehicles has been expanding rapidly due to government subsidies, their increased range and lower battery costs, and environmental sensitivity. However, the stock of plug-in electric cars represented just 1% of all passengers vehicles on the world's roads by the end of 2020, of which pure electrics constituted two thirds.[2]
Global cumulative sales of highway-legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles reached 1 million units in September 2015,[3] 5 million in December 2018,[4] and passed the 10 million milestone in 2020.[5] By the end of 2021 there were about 17.5 million light-duty plug-in vehicles on the world's roads.[5][6] Sales of plug-in passenger cars achieved a 9% global market share of new car sales in 2021, up from 4.6% in 2020, and 2.5% in 2019.[2][7][8] The PEV market has been shifting towards fully electric battery vehicles. The global ratio between BEVs and PHEVs went from 56:44 in 2012, to 60:40 in 2015, and rose to 74:26 in 2019.[9][10] The ratio was to 71:29 in 2021.[11]
As of December 2021, China had the largest stock of highway legal plug-in passenger cars with about 7.8 million units, 46% of the global fleet in use.[12] China also dominates the plug-in light commercial vehicle and electric bus deployment, with its stock reaching over 500,000 buses in 2019, 98% of the global stock, and 247,500 electric light commercial vehicles, 65% of the global fleet.[1]
Europe had about 5.5 million plug-in passenger cars at the end of 2021, accounting for over 32% of the global stock.[1][13][14] Europe also has the world's second largest electric light commercial vehicle stock, with about 220,000 vans.[1][15] As of December 2021, cumulative sales in the United States totaled 2.32 million plug-in cars,[16] with California listed as the largest U.S. plug-in regional market with 1 million plug-in cars sold by November 2021.[17]
As of December 2021, Germany is the leading European country with 1.38 million plug-in cars registered since 2010.[18][19] Norway has the highest market penetration per capita in the world,[20] and also has the world's largest plug-in segment market share of new car sales, 86.2% in 2021.[21] Over 10% of all passenger cars on Norwegian roads were plug-ins in October 2018, and rose to 22% in 2021.[22][23]The Netherlands has the highest density of EV charging stations in the world by 2019.[24]
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