Should you go Electric?

Electric cars are greener than petrol or diesel cars by a number of key measures, with the exception of the carbon intensity of the manufacturing process (although this will change as economies of scale are achieved through mass production).

Electric cars are far more energy efficient (85-90% efficient) than internal combustion engine cars (17-21%), which means that they use less energy to get you from A to B.

Less energy used means less produced, which in turn means less CO2 emissions produced by non-renewable energy sources and the wider energy supply chain.

However, it is often claimed by sceptics that electric cars just move the pollution to the power station; it’s called the “long tailpipe theory”.

To an extent this is true. But it fails to note that pretty much all power stations are greener than internal combustion engines in terms of energy and carbon efficiency.

The mix of power generation we actually use to charge electric cars in the UK (which includes wind & solar as well as power stations) is far greener than an internal combustion engine and getting greener all the time.

Electric cars have zero exhaust emissions, which means they do not emit any harmful exhaust gases or soot in densely populated areas. Likewise, with coal now becoming a small part of the power mix, very little air pollution at all is released from modern power generation.

In contrast, the exhaust emissions from vehicles with internal combustion engines is a significant source of CO2 that contributes to global climate change and air pollutants that harm people’s health at a local level.

Air pollution is often described as a public health emergency, with urban air pollution for many UK towns and cities well above safe limits and not improving. It is clear that road transport is the primary contributor of harmful gases and particulate matter and that electrification is a key part of reducing this.

It is true that building an electric car currently is more carbon intensive than building a traditional car; mainly due to the electricity used in the manufacturing process of lithium ion batteries.

However, as economies of scale improve and renewables power more of our factories, the total carbon emissions per vehicle will decrease. There's a general strive among manufacturers to develop new ideas for a carbon neutral future. Well-known car brands like the Volkswagen Group have made impressive commitments to a cut and off-set emissions, and Swedish EV brand Polestar has gone even further and promises to produce a "truly" carbon zero car by 2030 - without relying on carbon offsetting.

Life time emissions of an EV are already around three times lower than these of an an average new internal combustion engine vehicle and even now, it only takes an EV roughly 2 years to overcome the production deficit. Of course this situation will continue to improve as the grid gets ever greener.