Electric cars cause more emissions during production than traditional petrol cars, but are still more environmentally friendly throughout their lifetime according to several studies.
Among other things, due to limited charging options, an electric car is not a realistic choice for many.
If you can’t charge the car close to home, a petrol hybrid may appear to be an environmentally friendly intermediate mode, but according to a new study from the ICCT think tank, this is not necessarily the case.
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Looking at the whole life cycle
ICCT has revised a study that was already published in 2021, in which the emissions that occur during the entire life cycle of the car have been calculated.
This means that you include the emissions from both the production of the fuel and the manufacture of the battery in your calculation. The study is based on figures from the USA.
The study confirms that electric cars are significantly more environmentally friendly than petrol cars in the long run.
Hybrid cars, on the other hand, do not appear to be particularly environmentally friendly.
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The electric car is the most environmentally friendly
The reason why electric cars are more environmentally friendly than petrol cars, even if the emissions during production are higher, is due to the low efficiency of a petrol engine.
A large part of the energy that you put into a petrol engine does not go to drive the wheels, but is instead lost as excess heat.
Compared to an electric car powered by electricity produced with an American energy mix, which is relatively “dirty” compared to the Swedish one, a gasoline car emits 3.5 times as much carbon dioxide throughout its life cycle.
Compared to an electric car that is powered entirely by electricity that is fossil-free, which is almost what the Swedish energy mix is, the emissions from a petrol car are a whopping 6.7 times as great.’
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Hybrid cars gain strength
The study also shows that hybrid cars are more environmentally friendly than petrol cars, but the difference is not as great as one might have imagined.
According to the study, a plug-in hybrid emits twice as much carbon dioxide during its life cycle as an electric car, provided that both are charged with electricity produced with an American energy mix.
A more traditional, non-chargeable hybrid emits 2.5 times as much as an electric car under the same conditions.
However, if you compare the hybrid car with an electric car that runs on renewable electricity, the difference is significantly greater. In that case, the hybrid car emits a full five times more than the electric car.
If you don’t have the opportunity to switch to an electric car yet, a hybrid is therefore a more environmentally friendly alternative to a petrol car, but the difference to an electric car is big – especially with a Swedish energy mix.
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