Electric cars are better for the environment than traditional gasoline models and that benefit is to grow as power generators shift away from coal.
That is the conclusion of research by Bloomberg NEF (BNEF), which found that carbon dioxide emissions from battery-powered vehicles last year were about 40 percent lower than for internal combustion engines.
The difference was biggest in Britain, which has a large renewables industry. It still held in China, which is more reliant on coal to make electricity.
The report adds clarity to the debate about the lifetime emissions of electric vehicles (EVs), which while they do not pollute on the road, do consume electricity that is often generated using fossil fuels.
BNEF’s research assumes that electric cars will become cleaner in the coming years as utilities close coal plants and draw more energy from wind and solar farms, a process well under way almost everywhere except Southeast Asia.
“When an internal combustion vehicle rolls off the line its emissions per km are set, but for an EV they keep falling every year as the grid gets cleaner,” Colin McKerracher, a transport analyst at BNEF said.
The widespread adoption of renewables is to decrease average emissions by as much as 90 percent in the UK and more than one-third in Japan out to 2040, according to BNEF.
The global share of zero-carbon electricity generation is set to increase from 38 percent last year to 63 percent by 2040, according to projections from BNEF.
While technological improvements would see related emissions from combustion engines falling by about 1.9 percent a year through to 2040, pollution from electric vehicles would fall anywhere from 3 to 10 percent annually.
That is largely because of grid decarbonization, but also reduced electricity consumption, BNEF said.
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