Here’s one for conspiracy theorists out there - Who Killed the Electric Car?

I recently re-watched the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? - Chris Paine’s 2006 homage to what seemed like a first-rate development in terms of ethical private automotive transport - the General Motors EV1.

Despite painting a very bleak picture of fat cats, money, and corporate power, the film ends on a defiant note. The future’s bright, the future’s hydrogen/hybrid fuel powered vehicles or something like that. How this all relates to Terramar Organics, and organic fair trade clothing, I am not sure. However, the documentary is well worth watching whether you are interested in cars or not.

If we are to go in for electric vehicles (EVs) (and, despite General Motor’s efforts, EV ownership is increasing at a considerable rate), what is the true environmental benefit of say the EV1 versus an equivalent sized internal combustion engine vehicle (ICE)?

In terms of CO2 emissions if we look at GM’s EV1 CO2 emissions per km are startlingly similar to an IEC equivalent in size and power. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car) the EV1 emits approximately 115 grams of CO2 per kilometre driven if charged on the existing USA electricity grid. Not very impressive in light of the figures presented here: http://www.carpages.co.uk/co2/ for ICEs and hybrids. It is important to bear in mind that this figure is relative to the source of the electricity. For example, non-renewable (e.g. coal, gas etc) vs. renewable (e.g. wind, hydro etc). Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that diesel IECs do seem to do pretty well on the CO2 emissions front and compete well with hybrid vehicles and EVs. However, if one were to charge up ones EV in Denmark, where renewables form an encouraging proportion of energy supplied to the grid, ones CO2 emissions per km in an EV could be significantly lower than that of ICEs and hybrids.

It is clear that while general technology is moving forward in terms of developing cleaner means of transport there remains a degree of uncertainty as to which of the technologies are the most appropriate in terms of reducing emissions and our impact on the environment. In the drive to reduce emissions from transport, it remains clear that it is essential that public transport is improved with greater investment and an increase in usage of cleaner renewable energy sources.


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