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”
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/
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Notes to Journalists
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About Ecometrica
Ecometricais a company of world leading specialists and experts in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, ecosystem services, climate change policy, remote sensing and web based programming. With offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and Montréal, Canada, Ecometrica has unrivalled experience in the development and application of all major standards for GHG accounting, ecosystem change measurement and monitoring.
Our mission is to make accounting for GHG emissions and ecosystem changes easier for all organisations, including business and government, by making our expertise available through a comprehensive range of web-based and professional consulting services in the form of Our Impacts. Whatever your business, we make greenhouse gas accounting and ecosystem measurement easier.
http://www.ecometrica.co.uk
Please direct any further enquiries to:
Mike Paul
Marketing Manager
mike.paul@ecometrica.co.uk
# # #
About Ecometrica
Ecometrica is a company of world leading specialists and experts in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, ecosystem services, climate change policy, remote sensing and web based programming. With offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and Montréal, Canada, Ecometrica has unrivalled experience in the development and application of all major standards for GHG accounting, ecosystem change measurement and monitoring.
Our mission is to make accounting for GHG emissions and ecosystem changes easier for all organisations, including business and government, by making our expertise available through a comprehensive range of web-based and professional consulting services in the form of Our Impacts. Whatever your business, we make greenhouse gas accounting and ecosystem measurement easier.
http://www.ecometrica.co.uk
