Electric Cars

New study shows how "greener" they are than conventional ones

Electric cars produce much less pollution over their lifetime than conventional cars, a recent study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance concludes.

As the authors point out, the production of less pollutants of electric cars is valid in all the cases examined, while geographically the markets of the USA, Britain, Germany, China and Japan were studied.

Pollutants during vehicle production, battery production and driving itself were taken into account to draw conclusions.

Electrics, naturally, have the most emissions at the beginning during their manufacture, since they require more raw materials than conventional ones.

However, this soon changes once the car hits the road. A driver in the US will offset these above emissions after 41,000 km of driving their electric vehicle. In China, which has a more polluting power generation mix, this limit is currently 118,000 km.

In general, if we take into account a total lifetime of 250,000 km for an average car, then the pollutants of electrics are 27-71% lower than conventional depending on the country.

However, it is worth noting that as renewable energy sources are constantly being strengthened in electricity generation, things will change for the better in the future.

In 2030 it is estimated that in the US a driver will only need to travel 21,000 km to cover the emissions from the production of his vehicle. Correspondingly in China, the mileage will drop to 53,000 km.

Finally, when the electric vehicle is charged is also of great importance. At midday the electricity is much greener and there is the maximum environmental benefit.