Electric vehicles revving up

By Donal Hickey

Slow down. That’s the message from a Swedish professor of combustion engines to the electric vehicle industry.

As drivers are urged to move away from fossil-sourced energy, the electric vehicle PR machine is well into overdrive, but there’s still a long way to go before such vehicles take over from petrol and diesel vehicles.

The number of electric vehicles has not yet reached 0.5% of the 1.4bn vehicles on the world’s roads. At present, electric vehicles account for less than 1% of vehicles in Ireland.

By the end of last year, there were 3,800 here, but registrations of new and imported electric vehicles are up by 40% this year.

Carbon is emitted in the manufacture of electric vehicles and in generating electricity to charge batteries. Professor Oivind Andersson of Lund University, says these factors have to be taken into account.

He quotes a study by the Swedish Environment Institute which finds carbon dioxide emissions from electric cars are comparable to those of conventional cars, despite the promises of zero emissions by the car industry.

Andersson agrees, however, that in the distant future clean electric vehicles may become the most sustainable alternative to petrol and diesel — depending on whether, and how quickly, the world succeeds in changing from fossil-sourced power to power generation from other sources, such as wind, sun and water. Andersson warns against hurrying towards an electric car society, saying a dramatically increased demand for electricity may not be met by an adequate supply of green electricity.

The Government, through grants and incentives, as well as support from the environmental groups and the motor industry, is urging people to change to electric vehicles.

Many drivers are reluctant to go down that road for reasons such as the cost of electric vehicles, the short distance range of batteries and scarcity of charging points. All of which issues are being addressed, we’re assured.

The use of electric vehicles on Irish roads is about to become normal and no longer just a progressive, environmental fad, according to Jim Gannon, chief executive of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, in America says early stage emissions of electric vehicles exceed those of conventional cars as they store power in large, lithium-ion batteries, which take a lot of material and energy to produce.

However, the situation improves as cars are driven and electricity is generally cleaner than petrol.

Freight transport is a key issue and, without a massive reduction in transport, many experts can’t see how emissions can be brought down to levels consistent with the Paris Climate Agreement.