After all, which one pollutes the most? An electric car that uses electricity produced by burning fossil fuels or a gasoline car? This question has been a bone of contention between electric car fans and combustion engine advocates, but now there is an answer.
According to a study published by Bloomberg, an electric car currently emits an average of 40% less CO2 than a gasoline-powered one . However, this difference varies according to the country we are talking about.
Thus, the study gives the example of the United Kingdom and China. In the UK, the difference is greater than 40%, all thanks to the use of renewable energy sources. In China, which is the country where most electric cars are sold, the difference is less than 40%, all because coal is still one of the main sources of electricity production.
Local emissions vs displaced emissions
For this calculation they counted not only the emissions during the use of the car, but also the emissions that occur during production. But it makes you think. How does an electric car even have CO2 emissions when we drive it? Well, this is where local emissions and displaced emissions come into play.
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When we drive a car with an internal combustion engine, it has local emissions — that is, those that come straight out of the exhaust pipe —; an electric one, despite not emitting CO2 when used — it does not burn fuel, therefore there are no emissions of any kind —, can emit polluting gases indirectly, when we consider the origin of the electricity it needs.
If the electricity it uses is produced using fossil fuels, the power plant will have to emit CO2. This is why the difference between the two types of engines is currently only 40%.
Colin McKerracher, Transport Analyst at BNEFWhen an internal combustion vehicle leaves the assembly line, its emissions per km are already defined, in the case of trams these fall from year to year as energy sources become cleaner.
According to the researchers, the trend is for the gap to grow, as countries like China begin to adopt renewable energy sources. However, even with the electricity coming from burning coal, electric cars are already able to be less polluting than their gasoline equivalents.
According to the BloombergNEF study, technological developments will help reduce combustion engine emissions by 1.9% per year by 2040, but in the case of electric engines, thanks, above all, to the adoption of renewable energy sources, this breakage is expected to be between 3% and 10% per year.
Source: Bloomberg