Hybrid cars aren’t as green as you think, as they emit far more greenhouse gases than manufacturers claim, report finds
- CCC says plug-in hybrids performed up to five times worse than expected
- Chief executive Chris Stark said progress to net zero was “worryingly slow.”
Hybrid cars produce far more greenhouse gases than manufacturers claim, a report today shows.
The Climate Change Committee says plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) – which have a petrol or diesel engine to supplement a battery and electric motors to power the car’s wheels – have performed up to five times worse than expected.
The findings come in a progress report from the CCC on how well the government is doing to reduce emissions.
Chief executive Chris Stark said progress towards net zero has been “worryingly slow” and that the government is relying on technological breakthroughs such as carbon capture rather than asking people to “reduce their high-carbon activities.”
Mr Stark said transport’s share of the country’s total emissions – the so-called ‘carbon budget’ – is now much higher than expected.
Plug-in hybrids not as green as you think: They produce far more greenhouse gases than manufacturers claim, a report today shows
He said: ‘The government now expects emissions from surface transport to exceed the net-zero strategy by the mid-2030s.’
He added that the government’s latest figures show that the CO2 savings from plug-in hybrid cars are “three to five times lower” than previously believed.
Tory MP Philip Dunne, chair of the environmental audit committee, said the government “risks unraveling the climate leadership of recent years.”
It’s not the first study to question the claimed environmental benefits of plug-in hybrid cars.
A report in February suggested that the carbon dioxide emissions of the latest PHEVs on sale in the UK are three times higher than advertised when their batteries are fully charged.
Think tank Transport & Environment said that while plug-in hybrids are presented as a ‘climate solution’ and a ‘springboard to full electrification’, tests conducted in collaboration with the University of Graz in Austria show that the latest models pollute ‘significantly more than claimed on commuting routes’.
Additional pollution measurements from three of the newest PHEVs showed that they can emit up to seven times their advertised carbon dioxide output during a typical trip through city centers when their batteries are depleted.
The environmental group has called on the UK government to stop providing green tax breaks for PHEVs and to ban new models from sale by the end of the decade.
Some hybrid cars get a five-year reprieve if the UK government bans the sale of internal combustion engine cars in less than seven years.
While new conventional petrol and diesel-powered passenger models will be banned from 2030, hybrids that can travel a significant distance without emissions will be allowed to remain in showrooms until 2035.
Industry experts have warned that the UK’s 900,000 electric cars could exacerbate the pothole crisis after new research found they cause twice as much road damage as their petrol and diesel equivalents.
Analysis by the University of Leeds shows that the average electric car – which is heavier due to its larger battery – puts 2.24 times more load on the surface than its petrol equivalent, and 1.95 times more than diesel.