With no tailpipe emissions, electric cars are being hailed as the future of motoring. However, some argue that generating the electricity required to power them will offset those emission savings. Now, Ecometrica have finally put some statistics alongside the speculation…

While electric vehicles themselves are “zero emissions” on account of having no exhaust, debate has raged over exactly how much energy needs to be generated in order to charge them in the first place.

Until now, there have been no official statistics to accompany the argument – but Gary Davis, Operations Director and chief greenhouse gas (GHG) analyst at Edinburgh-based carbon accounting firm Ecometrica, has applied some science to the debate.

He has calculated that, based on a range of electric cars that you can buy in the UK at the moment, the average emissions for an electric vehicle are 75 gCO2/km, when CO2 emissions at the power station are taken into account.

This is still lower than any other car in production, including the Toyota Prius (89 gCO2/km) and the VW Golf Bluemotion (99 gCO2/km) – two of the previously best-performing low-emission vehicles.

This figure is only correct for the UK, however, as electric vehicle emissions calculated in this way are dependent on the electricity grid mixture of the country you are investigating. Gary also calculates electric car emissions in France, Greece, USA, Canada and China, with very interesting results.

As well as measuring standard power station emissions, Gary also investigates “upstream” emissions sources with a wells-to-wheels analysis and definitively answers the questions: is an electric vehicle more efficient than a petrol or diesel car, and will electric vehicles reduce emissions in the UK?

To read the full paper (4 pages) and take a look at the associated statistics, you can visit the appropriate page on the Ecometrica website by using the link below:

http://www.ecometrica.co.uk/electric-vehicle-emissions