Arup-Cenex report concludes that electric vehicles can significantly cut carbon
Tue 28 October 2008
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A new report, jointly produced by Arup and Cenex for BERR and the DfT, concludes that electric vehicles have the potential to produce significant greenhouse gas emission reductions compared to conventional vehicles over the full life-cycle. The authors recommend the establishment of a forum to help with the coordination and development of the UK’s EV industry and market.
The report was commissioned by the Government to provide a better understanding of the contribution that the introduction of battery electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can make to the long-term reduction of the UK’s CO2 emissions.
With road-based transport currently accounting for about 22 per cent of the UK's CO2 emissions, the sector is an important priority in terms of meeting the challenge of climate change. The study focused mainly on cars and light goods vehicles as these are seen as the most promising early applications for electric and plug-in technology.
The report concludes that over a full life-cycle - taking into account of emissions from power generation and emissions relating to production and disposal - there are significant potential greenhouse gas emission reductions possible compared with conventional vehicles. Even based on the current UK electricity grid mix, an emissions reduction of 40% would be expected. With further decarbonisation of the UK power mix, reductions from the use of EVs would increase.
The report also examined the impact of EVs and PHEVs on the UK electricity grid and concluded that there is sufficient generating capacity to cope with the increased electricity uptake assuming that demand for charging is managed and targeted at off-peak periods where there is currently surplus capacity. It also concluded that the existing national transmission network will be sufficient to cope with the demand from vehicles though there may be local distribution issues to overcome.
The authors recommend the creation of a forum for the development of the UK’s EV industry and market. This could, they say, either be physical or virtual, but would need to bring together the many stakeholders involved including policy makers, vehicle manufacturers, electricity generators and distributors, technology specialists, research establishments, urban designers, transport planners etc. The authors say that this would be a major step towards providing consistent and coherent industry direction to facilitate roll-out.
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