Electric cars: are they green?

Are electric cars green? Can they be described as green cars? Currently, there is a limited range of electric vehicles on the market. Electric cars form part of the plan to promote a low carbon future. These fuel efficient cars include the fully electric and plug-in petrol-electric hybrids. In the UK, electric vehicles range in price from about £8,000 to more than £80,000 for high-performance models.

Running cars on electricity and moving away from our over-reliance on the oil industry is a wonderful idea. But electric cars are only as green as the electricity they run on. In other words, we need to produce electricity in a green and carbon free way. There is a general assumption regarding electric cars i.e. that they are greener that the petrol/diesel/hybrid vehicles. But can electric cars really claim to be green cars when they are powered from an electric grid supplied by power stations burning coal or gas. Can electric cars even claim to be green cars when they are drawn from an electric grid partly supplied by nuclear energy?  

Indeed, for the environmentally concerned consumer, more information is needed to indicate just how the higher demand for electricity would be managed once electric cars are mainstreamed. Further, more information is needed on just how a national network of car charging points would be created.

The problem with electric cars, regardless of battery technology, is their limited range. So far, electric car ownership has been about accepting compromises in terms of speed and handling, as well as range. The plug-in hybrid vehicle aims to offer a comparable alternative to electric cars, combining the benefit of improving fuel economy.

For instance, BMW’s Mini E and Daimler’s electric Smart run on the more efficient modern lithium-ion battery, which is considered far more efficient than old battery technology.

The Mini E’s power is drawn from a 250kg lithium-ion battery that replaces the back seats. Its detractors argue that this is impractical but this has little bearing on the car’s driving characteristics.

The Mini E handles like an ordinary car and offers a range of 150 miles for a two-hour charge from a special 48-amp charging point. Its electric motor provides a steady pull from standstill to its top speed of 152 km/h (95 mph).

In terms of energy density, the current generation of lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars are three times better than the nickel-based batteries in terms of delivering three times as much energy and power. But there are challenges in using lithium-ion batteries. For instance, this includes a global scarcity of lithium and issues linked to producing sufficient energy from clean sources to power ever more electric cars. For example, for the green consumer, if coal power stations are used to provide the energy, the green benefits of owning an electric car will be vastly reduced.

So, to circumvent the limited range of battery technology, the motor industry has come up with the plug-in petrol-electric hybrids. Hybrid vehicles such the one Toyota is currently trialling would initially run on a battery. Once it runs out of energy, a conventional petrol engine takes over. On the other hand, General Motor is working on an alternative hybrid vehicle, one where a small petrol engine recharges the battery whilst driving.

There is a crucial reason why electric motoring spells the shift towards low carbon transport solutions and a switch to less polluting ways of personal life-style behaviour. Both the transport and energy sectors are the main contributors to climate change. Both sectors can jointly tackle the challenge of climate change.

Mainstreaming electric and hybrid vehicles would potentially spell bad news for the oil industry. As technology improves, and more car journeys are powered by electricity rather than by internal combustion engines, the power generation of electric cars will erode the dominance of the oil industry.  

A shift in drivers’ spending away from the oil industry would also lead to a sharp reduction in government income from heavily-taxed petrol and diesel. However, electric and hybrid cars aren’t cheap to run and carmakers are very aware of the need to make both electric and plug-in hybrids affordable.

Indeed, lowering the price may not be sufficient to convince motorists to switch. For instance, potential electric and hybrid can purchasers will be convinced about resale values and repair costs. This question is particularly relevant with electric cars because modern batteries remain untested. Electric and hybrid carmakers will therefore have to work hard to come up with technological developments and marketing innovations.

Moreover, potential owners of electric and hybrid cars will also be concerned about where to recharge their cars. Ordinary sockets found in homes aren’t sufficient for charging electric cars. In fact, according to one major carmaker’s estimate, dedicated high-voltage charging points have to be installed for about £2,000. Does this mean that the government will step in to provide subsidies to assist in the installation of charging points in city streets and car parks?

And however we feel about the nuclear industry, the electrification of transport would also fortunately or unfortunately spell good news for the nuclear industry, which will see its share of the overall energy mix grow in the years ahead.

Is there an alternative to this gradual shift away from the oil industry to the nuclear one? In a word, yes but this would mean increasing the investment and hence, availability of renewable energy sources and the decarbonising of the electric grid.

Logically, the winner in the switch from carbon-based to electric transport should be the environment. However, this isn’t as simple as it first looked at first glance. It is correct that direct carbon emissions from electric cars are zero but trace this back to the source and we have a different story. In the UK, electricity supply is still largely derived from gas and coal-fired power stations. Look closer: the UK national grid is powered by a mix of gas (45%), coal (28%) and nuclear (17%) with a few renewable sources such as wind and hydro (6.6%). Given its reliance on fossil fuels to power the electric grid and our safety concerns about nuclear energy, just how green can electric cars actually claim to be?   

However, regardless of the current mix comprising the UK electric supply, electric cars are still greener than conventional vehicles in terms of emissions. Moreover, in terms of air quality, electric cars are undoubtedly far better because they don’t release harmful particulates in densely populated city centres. For London, this is important because it is in breach of EU standards on dangerous airborne particles. Moreover, pollution contributes more than 43,000 premature deaths per annum in the British capital.    

The fundamental question remains unanswered: do electric and hybrid vehicles really produce fewer emissions when one takes into account that they run on electricity produced, in large part, through the burning of fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources?