“Don’t trash talk EVs”: Study shows electric cars emit much less than thought

The Driven

A new study from Dutch electric vehicle expert Auke Hoekstra – who helpfully debunked Murdoch-pedalled myths about EV emissions in March – shows that electric cars are even better at reducing carbon emissions than previously thought, largely because older studies used outdated data on battery manufacturing.

Such reports have previously been used by naysayers to claim that electric vehicles are worse for the environment than petrol and diesel cars. Hoekstra’s new report seeks to correct that inaccurate claim.

It shows that – contrary to a wildly inaccurate and since debunked report from German Institute for Economic Research (IFO) – that the Tesla Model 3 emits less than half the carbon of the Mercedes C220D.

Even against a hybrid vehicle such as the Toyota Prius, Hoekstra shows that the emissions of a Volkswagen e-Golf amount to about half its counterpart.

Titled “Comparing the lifetime green house gas emissions of electric cars with the emissions of cars using gasoline or diesel“, the new study from Netherlands’ Eindhoven University of Technology, which also birthed 2019’s winning Bridgestone World Solar Challenge team, covers six areas that have mistakenly put lifetime emissions of electric cars as higher than necessary.

According to Hoekstra and co-author Prof Maarten Steinbuch, founder of Master Automotive Technology at Eindhoven university, part studies have not given electric vehicles enough credit where due because they have used incorrect data on emissions of battery production.

They have also underestimated battery lifetime, not included an increasingly clean grid, used of tests commissioned by battery makers, downplayed fuel emissions and excluded external factors such as greening the whole supply chain.

To read the full version of this story – and view the photo gallery – on RenewEconomy’s electric vehicle dedicated site, The Driven, click here…

RenewEconomy and its sister sites One Step Off The Grid and The Driven will continue to publish throughout the Covid-19 crisis, posting good news about technology and project development, and holding government, regulators and business to account. But as the conference market evaporates, and some advertisers pull in their budgets, readers can help by making a voluntary donation here to help ensure we can continue to offer the service free of charge and to as wide an audience as possible. Thankyou for your support.