Electric cars emit higher CO2 than diesel cars, says new study
The study done by researches for a German think tank argues that natural gas combustion engines will be more effective in the long run in comparison to electric vehicles considering the current amount of energy used in battery production.
New research done by a German think tank ifo suggests that CO2 emissions by a battery-electric vehicle, in the best case, are slightly higher than those of a diesel one. However, in a general scenario, are significantly higher. This study takes into account Germany’s current energy mix and the amount of energy used in battery production. The calculations were carried out by the researches with the help of well-established examples of a modern-day electric vehicle and diesel ones. In addition to taking into consideration the CO2 emission from battery production, the study also took into account alternative energy sources in replacement of electricity.
This research was carried out by Christoph Buchal, professor of physics at the University of Cologne; Hans-Dieter Karl, long-standing ifo energy expert; and Hans-Werner Sinn, former ifo president and professor emeritus at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
The study further highlights that even with the current technology used in combustion engines powered by natural gas, their emissions are almost one third lower than those produced by a diesel run vehicle. “Over the long term, hydrogen-methane technology offers a further advantage: it allows surplus wind and solar power generated during peaks to be stored, and these surpluses will see a sharp increase as the share of this renewable energy grows,” Professor Buchal explains.
The study criticises the European Union legislation which allows battery-powered vehicles to be included under calculations done for fleet emissions. This results in labelling electric vehicles with ‘zero’ CO2 emissions which is not true even by a long margin. This legislation ignores the CO2 generated in the production of electric vehicles. Not only this, but it also ignores the CO2 emission generation during the production of electricity to be used for charging the batteries of these EVs.
The researches also found that discussions pertaining to electric cars in Germany are predominantly biased towards battery-powered vehicles, completely ignoring alternative technologies which also offer great potential like hydrogen-powered electric vehicles or vehicles with combustion engines powered by green methane.
“Methane technology is ideal for the transition from natural gas vehicles with conventional engines to engines that will one day run on methane from CO2-free energy sources. This being the case, the German federal government should treat all technologies equally and promote hydrogen and methane solutions as well,” emphasizes Professor Sinn.
Source: financialexpress
