Electric vehicles not truly ‘zero emissions’ unless law changes are made

Formatted and completed text.A study specially made for Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace, Transport & Environment (T&E) and WWF Germany has concluded that electric cars won’t be real ‘zero emission’ vehicles the decarbonisation of electricity production and its implementation has to be backed with changes in legislation.

The “Green Power for Electric Cars” report refers that these vehicles might still be responsible for a rise in greenhouse gas emissions if changes in the European Union (EU) law aren’t made.

According to the conclusions of the study EU legislation on car emissions has flaws because it allows manufacturers to use sales of electric vehicles to balance the continued production of gas-guzzling cars. Carmakers receive the so-called ‘super-credits’, which allow carmakers to sell 3.5 high-emitting cars for every electric vehicle sold, without compromising their overall CO2 limit. The report indicates that if this situation isn’t changed an increase in sales of electric cars to 10 per cent of the total might lead to a 20 per cent increase in both oil consumption and CO2 emissions in the EU car sector.

Sonja Meister from Friends of the Earth Europe said: “While electric cars can be part of the shift to a more sustainable transport model, they must be coupled with a commitment to ensure they run on renewable electricity. Efforts must also be made to reduce overall travel demand – if people continue to drive as much as they want in electric cars regardless of whether they are powered in a sustainable way it will result in more harmful emissions than today.”