Electric cars really are ‘silent killers’: pedestrians are TWICE as likely to be hit by battery-powered vehicles than by petrol or diesel ones, research shows
Dr. Florian Knobloch, a fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Center for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance, said Rowan Atkinson’s assumptions about electric cars are “wrong” and “questionable from a scientific perspective.”
Dr. Knobloch split Atkinson’s essay for the Guardian into four ‘central arguments’ – and debunked three of them:
1. Atkinson implies that life cycle greenhouse gas emissions (including all production emissions) from electric cars are higher than those from petrol and diesel cars
Dr. Knobloch says:
‘Wrong. Fears that electric cars could actually increase CO2 emissions are unfounded in almost all parts of the world, as our research (published in Nature Sustainability).
‘Under current circumstances, producing and driving an electric car in 95% of the world is already better for the climate than conventional petrol cars.
‘The only exceptions are places like Poland, where electricity generation is still largely coal-based.
‘In a few years, even inefficient electric cars will be less emissions-intensive than most new petrol cars in most countries, because electricity generation is expected to be less carbon-intensive than today.
‘The answer is clear: to reduce CO2 emissions, we must choose electric cars over fossil fuel alternatives. In other words, the idea that electric vehicles could increase emissions is essentially a myth.”
2. EVs are worse for the climate than gasoline cars because of the environmental impact of their batteries
Dr. Knobloch says:
‘Wrong. While it is true that the production of electric cars produces more emissions than the production of a petrol or diesel car, electric cars are simply much more efficient to use.
‘Electric motors are simply better at capturing the energy in the battery and using it to turn the wheels.
‘Nearly all the energy in an electric car’s battery goes into running the car, while only 16 percent of the energy in the average car’s petrol tank powers that car. Most of the energy is lost as heat.
‘As a result, you can achieve many more kilometers per unit of energy in an EV than in a normal car.
‘Over their lifetime, higher initial production emissions are therefore quickly offset by much lower operating emissions.’
3. Hydrogen or synthetic fuels should be used instead of electric vehicles
Dr. Knobloch says:
‘Wrong. First, it is important to understand that hydrogen and synthetic fuels are made either from fossil fuels or from electricity.
‘If hydrogen and synthetic fuels are produced with fossil fuels, emissions will not decrease, but increase. When produced from electricity (so-called ‘green hydrogen’), a large part of the energy is lost during the conversion process.
‘It is therefore much more efficient to use the electricity directly to power a car, rather than first converting it into hydrogen and then using the hydrogen to power the same vehicle.
‘Synthetic fuels are even more inefficient, because the hydrogen must be converted into a liquid fuel, which in turn costs a lot of energy.
‘The synthetic fuel is then burned in a conventional combustion engine, which is a very inefficient process in the first place.
‘As a result, hydrogen and synthetic fuels will typically lead to much higher energy consumption and emissions, compared to battery-electric vehicles.’
4. We need to pay more attention to car production emissions
Dr. Knobloch says:
‘Atkinson is certainly right to point out the high emissions associated with car production.
‘If you drive very little, continuing to drive an existing car is often the more sustainable solution.
‘More broadly, the electrification of transport is not a silver bullet: we also need to reduce the number of cars per se and encourage the use of bicycles and public transport where possible.’