Before the big climate summit in Glasgow in the autumn, many Hampshire residents are wondering when to switch to an electric car or whether it is worth waiting on hydrogen.
The market will be crammed with vendors who say their cars are the greenest ever.
But what’s the truth out there?
Electric cars keep getting better. It is now possible to drive away a vehicle that has traveled 300 or more kilometers on a full charge at a high cost. That means it’s possible to charge a car and go from Hampshire to the Lake District with just one stop, for a shorter charge each way. The day will come when you can do the entire trip on a single charge. But there are significant hidden costs to the planet.
The first is the manufacture of the battery and associated engine parts. There are still considerable costs in terms of carbon dioxide emissions in the manufacturing process.
So pay attention to the fine print when choosing a new vehicle. How many tons of CO2 equivalent are emitted during the manufacturing process?
Just last week I reviewed a car that described itself as the “greenest sports car of all time”. But the irony was in the last paragraph, which said that “24 tons of CO2 were produced for every vehicle made. This is equivalent to driving a gasoline vehicle for 66,000 miles”.
That means you have to drive your car 66,000 miles before it becomes carbon neutral. So not so green after all?
Then you have the charging costs. The CO2 emissions when charging are completely dependent on your energy supplier.
If you have a really green tariff (where the company invests directly in alternative energy) the carbon costs are low.
On the other hand, if you invest in a company that “offsets” its carbon footprint (by planting trees or paying a sum of money to another organization that helps reduce carbon), the cost of carbon is much higher.
If you want to invest in an electric car, the most important requirements are:
1) Make sure the electric car you buy has a low carbon footprint. If manufacturing emissions mean you have to drive more than 35,000 miles before it goes carbon neutral, I’d suggest avoiding buying it.
2) It is always better to wait and buy used.
Remember that buying a car that may have already driven 30,000 will have a much lower cost of energy. A used electric car is far cheaper for the planet.
3) Check with your electricity provider whether it is a real eco tariff that invests directly in alternative energy sources. Don’t let your supplier fool you that it’s green if it isn’t!
Hydrogen vehicles aren’t far behind; and in the fall I will check whether hydrogen technology is more useful than electrical engineering.
For the time being, buy wisely for electric and watch out for green laundry.