Electric cars alone won't cut carbon emissions

Reducing carbon emissions are just one of the reasons green car buyers consider electric cars, but a new report from the Royal Academy of Engineering claims that simply buying an electric car is not enough.

According to the report, the success of electric cars depends heavily on the availability of 'green' electricity and the overcoming of technical issues. Professor Roger Kemp, from Lancaster University, chaired the Academy's Electric Vehicles working group. He told The Telegraph that until electricity was produced in a greener way, the difference between a low emission petrol or diesel car and an electric car would be minimal.

"Swapping gas guzzlers for electric vehicles will not solve our carbon emissions problem on its own. We welcome the fact that the motor manufacturers are so ready to take on the challenge of developing mass market electric vehicles, but establishing these as the technology of choice for personal transport is only one aspect of what is needed to reduce transport emissions" he said.

For Britain to be able to meet its renewable targets and provide a greener power to electric cars, a range of low-carbon energy sources including nuclear power stations and wind farms would be required. There are also a number of technical hurdles, including the provision of high energy batteries and a solution for charging the cars.

Richard Parry Jones, a member of the working group and former Group Vice President of Ford Motor Company was cited in The Telegraph as saying: "Electric vehicles could provide a major contribution to meeting the target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.''

"However, they will only be built in mass production numbers when there is a compelling sustainable social and business model for their use to allow manufacturers to plan for a long term market."

 

Stanley Williams, Croydon, BMW 3 320I SE

Nicholas Hall, St Helens, MERCEDES SL600