Rapid Rise of Electric Car Sales: Considerations on Environmental Sustainability in the UK

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Introduction

Climate change is at the forefront of both public and governmental debates, media discussions, and policymaking. With strong evidence present from the multitude of research carried out to date, it is clear that carbon dioxide emissions are rising from anthropogenic activity. Indeed, whilst it can be argued that natural phenomena in the form of glacial shifts or changing ocean currents have contributed to climate change, none of these have had as profound an impact as human activities (Crowley 2000).

In the UK alone, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per person in 2010 were 9.66 metric tonnes of CO2 (The Guardian 2016). This places the UK at 8th in the world for CO2 per person and therefore mitigation is required immediately to reduce this figure.

Transport in its own right is the second highest contributor of carbon dioxide, producing annual CO2 emissions in 2018 of 121.4 million tonnes. As a proportion of the UK 2018 total CO2, transport accounts for c.33% (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 2019). In comparison, energy generation accounted for over 53% of annual UK CO2 emissions with a total of 196.6 million tonnes. This is around 20% higher than the transport sector and thus it would seem that reducing emissions from energy production would be a logical first step. However, energy production can be seen as paramount to human survival by providing energy to heat our homes and cook our food. Transport choice on the other hand can be seen as a luxury and in particular owning a vehicle.

As highlighted above transport accounts for the second highest proportion of total UK annual CO2 emissions. An interesting point to note is that in this transport category, passenger cars account for roughly 60% of total transport emissions (European Parliament 2019). Given the recent government policy which strongly advocates the use of electric cars combined with financial incentives from manufacturers, the purchase of electric vehicles has risen significantly in recent years from 3,500 sales in 2013 to 60,000 in 2018 (Lane, 2019).

Furthermore, with company car tax relief on electric vehicles and new schemes such as ULEZ, it is no wonder that many people are turning to electric cars for financial purposes whilst also being satisfied they are contributing to ‘cleaner’ motoring.

Statement of Problem

Since the mid-1950s there has been clear evidence of a shift in the climatic systems of the earth. Both the atmosphere and oceans have suffered a warming effect. Additionally, snow and ice cover have been reduced with sea levels also rising drastically as a result. (IPCC 2013). The cause of this accelerated climate change has been documented to be caused by the industrialization of nations as they exploit fossil fuel stores for industrialization activity. Moreover with

Given that 27% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions are due to transport (Brinson, 2019), it is no surprise that electric cars are commonly viewed as the key to future sustainability. Not only do they produce zero carbon emissions when being driven, but they also do not produce any other harmful gases such as methane and hydrocarbons and moreover produce no harmful particulates.

Introduction to Electric cars

Provided that transport is one of the main contributors to carbon dioxide emissions it is seen that electric cars could be the solution to resolving the pollution problem. In 2015 there were 381 trips per person per year by car (Department for Transport, 2018). By the end of 2015, it is estimated that there were 30.3 million cars in the UK (Department for Transport, 2018). This means that in the year 2015, significant amounts of carbon dioxide were released just from cars alone.

New cars are more fuel efficient and designed to minimize the amounts of greenhouse gases emitted while being driven, for example, start-stop technology which means when stopped in traffic the engine shuts off to prevent unnecessary emission of pollutants. However new cars still produce vast amounts of greenhouse gases which damage our environment. With the increasing importance of protecting the environment, governments have begun to provide financial incentives for buying electric cars.

In the UK car owners whose cars have carbon dioxide emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 112km without producing any carbon dioxide are given a £3500 plug-in grant (GOV.UK, n.d.), this £3500 is deducted from the total price of the car. By the end of 2018, electric cars made up 3.8% of total UK registrations (Lane, 2019), still, an extremely small proportion compared to the total number of cars in the UK. However, this figure is expected to rise rapidly and by 2030 it is projected that electric vehicles will make up 20% of the global automotive market (Wu, Alberts, and Hooper, 2019).

How do electric cars work?

Instead of being powered by an internal combustion engine an electric car contains an electric motor instead. This motor is powered by a battery pack and must be plugged into a charging outlet to charge so the car releases zero tailpipe emissions. The electric car has several key components used to drive the wheels, this starts with the traction battery pack which stores electricity for use (Afdc.energy.gov, n.d.). This electricity is then used to power the electric traction motor which drives the car’s wheels, the flow of energy from the battery to the traction motor is all controlled by the power electronics controller, which manages the flow of electrical energy delivered by the battery and so controls the speed of the motor and the torque produced (Afdc.energy.gov, n.d.). In order to move the car mechanical power generated by the electric traction motor is transferred to the wheels via the transmission as shown below in Figure 1 (Afdc.energy.gov, n.d.).

The car also contains a DC/DC converter which converts high-voltage DC power released from the battery to low-voltage DC power to run the vehicle’s electrics and recharge the auxiliary battery used to power the vehicle accessories (Afdc.energy.gov, n.d.).

As well as solely electric vehicles there are alternatives known as plug-in hybrid-electric cars, which contain both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine. The battery in a hybrid electric car can be charged in three different ways, being plugged into an outside electric power source, by the internal combustion engine, or through what is known as regenerative braking (Afdc.energy.gov, n.d.). Regenerative braking means collecting the vehicle’s kinetic energy and converting it into electricity to recharge the battery as the car is slowing down and stopping. (Gable and Gable, 2018). Furthermore, hybrid electric vehicles have the option to run on either electric power or petrol power when the battery is depleted.

How electric cars can contribute to sustainability in the UK

Sustainability cannot be explicitly defined due to how subjective it is, however, in the Bruntland Report for the World Commission on Environment and Development (1992) sustainability is defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Globalfootprints.org, 2009) and so in terms of transport sustainability can be seen as reducing carbon dioxide emissions and reducing reliance and usage of fossil fuel-powered methods of transport in order to preserve the current earth climatic systems for future generations.

The electric car is one potential method of achieving future sustainability, compared to combustion engines, electric vehicles have obvious advantages for emissions and human health. Combustion engines also produce lots of air and noise pollution in urban areas which causes a burden on society, electric cars are seen as the solution to these issues because they are quiet and do not release tailpipe emissions.

Furthermore, electric cars help to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions in the short term. A factory that makes a petrol car still produces carbon dioxide during the production process as does a factory that produces an electric car. Therefore, producing an electric car which during driving does not emit carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases has a clear advantage as carbon dioxide is only being emitted while the car is in production and not while it is being driven too and so there is an overall net reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. On average driving a petrol car 10,000 miles will emit 2.99t CO2e whereas compared to the average electric car it emits 0.96t CO2e when charged from UK mains electricity (Carbonfootprint.com, n.d.).

Figure 2 (Clarke, 2017) shows the difference in carbon dioxide emissions between petrol cars, pure electric cars, hybrid electric cars, and cars with range extenders. Figure 1 also shows the variation in emissions depending on how the electricity is generated. From the figure, it can be seen that a car running on petrol is the most polluting with emissions of 125g of carbon dioxide per km driven however a small amount of the emissions come from getting the petrol to the car. An electric car with electricity coming from oil only produces 91g of carbon dioxide per km.

Overall the graph shows that generally electric cars are more sustainable than petrol cars as they release less carbon dioxide. However, the amount released varies based upon how the electricity used to charge the car is generated when a renewable resource such as wind is used there is 0 carbon dioxide emission unlike when a non-renewable is used.

Negative implications of electric cars

Electricity is currently produced by non-renewable resources such as natural gas and coal. Unless clean energy is used as a source to charge electric vehicles, we will just be relocating atmospheric pollution from the place of use of vehicles to the place of power generation. Additionally, because some electricity is produced by burning coal, another harmful gas in the form of sulfur dioxide is released as well. This in turn further negatively impacts the environment as high concentrations of sulfur dioxide are linked to acid rain (REF)

Furthermore, it is important to note that reducing carbon emissions overall is not just about reducing the emissions produced by driving from point to point. The components and production process can be hugely unsustainable. The lithium-ion battery contains cobalt, lithium, and nickel. The nickel used is toxic to extract from the ground and the lithium is causing environmental concerns and land conflicts. Furthermore, over half of the world’s cobalt is found in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo where there have been links to child labor in the mining of cobalt (Broom, 2019). Just extracting the minerals for the production of the car extracts a high human and environmental toll for example unsafe working conditions and pollution. As shown in the below Figure [X], worldwide lithium mining/production is rapidly increasing from X in X year to X in X year.

Furthermore, there is the challenge of recycling the disused lithium-ion batteries. It is projected by 2030 that there will be 11 million tonnes of spent lithium-ion batteries to be discarded (Broom, 2019). Currently, in the EU only 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled (Zacune, 2013), and this has serious environmental costs. Firstly, there is the risk of the batteries giving off toxic gases if damaged and secondly even more importantly the core materials lithium and cobalt are both finite therefore falling squarely within the definition of ‘unsustainable’. Lastly, the extraction of these minerals has been known to lead to water pollution in local villages and towns. (REF)

Simply manufacturing the battery and components in an electric vehicle produces as much carbon dioxide as driving a gas-powered vehicle for thousands of miles, often 40% of the car’s total emissions (Braun, 2013). It has been estimated that the minute an electric

On average an electric car recharged by a coal-fired plant produces as much CO2 as a gasoline-powered car that gets 29 miles per gallon. (Sivak and Schoettle, 2017). For context, the average mpg of all the cars, SUVs, vans, and light trucks sold in the UK over the past year is 25.2 mpg. This shows that to an extent electric cars currently are unsustainable as electricity generated to recharge the car makes driving an electric car as polluting as a normal car. A plug-in recharged by a natural gas-powered plant is like driving a car that gets 58 miles per gallon. (Sivak and Schoettle, 2017)

Furthermore, 51% of the UK’s energy is produced by burning fossil fuels. 42% is by natural gas, and 9% is by coal. Only 21% of UK energy is produced by nuclear power and 24.5% by renewable sources (Energy-uk.org.uk, 2019). Thus, if our energy consumption increases due to the increased number of electric cars then the number of fossil fuels burnt to produce this energy will increase to meet the demand and which makes electric cars unsustainable.

Alternatives that could potentially provide sustainability in the UK

Electric cars are one potential solution to achieving future sustainability in the UK however there are currently negatives to them as discussed above. Moreover, there are many other viable alternative transport methods that could help in achieving sustainability within the UK by reducing carbon dioxide emissions caused by cars and transport in general.

Cycling

One method of reducing carbon dioxide emissions caused by transport is to encourage more people to cycle, this can be done through the introduction of a greater number of cycle lanes throughout the country. In 2016 cycling accounted for 2% of all journeys in London (London.gov.uk, 2018), it was also estimated by Transport for London that 8 million journeys made by cars, motorbikes, taxis, or public transport in London could have been cycled (London.gov.uk, 2018). This would make a significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions and cycles are completely efficient and release no emissions because they are powered by kinetic energy provided by a person pedaling.

Major steps have been made to promote cycling throughout the capital such as the introduction of the cycle superhighways the first of which were introduced in 2010 (BBC News, 2010) and there are now currently 8 cycle superhighways in use throughout London (Transport for London, n.d.).

Another key step was the introduction of the Santander Cycles which were introduced on 30th July 2010, these cycles were introduced to encourage tourists as well as residents of London to cycle around London rather than taking a taxi or using the bus and so providing a clean alternative form of transport within the capital. The Santander Cycles can be seen as a successful sustainable alternative method of transport, in 2018 there were a record total of 10.5 million journeys and an average of 29,500 bikes hired per day (Transport for London, 2018).

Public Transport

Another alternative method of transport that could potentially provide sustainability in the UK is public transport. In the UK there are a variety of methods of public transport from buses to trains. In 2015 buses and coaches emitted 3.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, trains emitted 1.9 million tonnes whereas cars emitted 68.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (Department for Transport, 2018). This shows that public transport is a far more sustainable method of transport not only because of the lower emissions but because it can transport a far greater number of people and so it saves time and emits less carbon dioxide as it can move more people in one journey.

Furthermore, the use of public transport is a suitable alternative because it can reduce congestion and in turn decrease carbon dioxide emissions caused by congestion as there would be fewer cars which means less traffic congestion and so cars on the road will be in use for a shorter period of time as journey times would be faster and so cars would have less time to emit carbon dioxide as they would be on the road for a shorter period of time.

Conclusion

Overall it is evident that the use of electric cars in the UK as a solution to sustainable transport has both positives and negatives at this stage in their product lifecycle. On the one hand, they should indeed play a key role in the sustainability of UK transport in the future given that they do not emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases during use. However, it should be noted that other forms of transport will also need to move towards a zero emissions baseline and this includes public transport such as buses but also industrial transport such as lorries and haulage vehicles. If all vehicle transport moves towards this zero emissions baseline, then this combined with alternative forms of transport both short and long-haul i.e. cycling or high-speed electric trains will give the UK the maximum chance of having completely sustainable transport.

In conclusion, given that cars are the most significant form of transport in the UK, the switch to electric cars should give the greatest impact in reducing carbon dioxide emissions immediately. However, as noted, the extent to which we can view electric cars as fully sustainable will ultimately depend on the form of power used to generate electricity to charge them. Given that electricity in the UK is mostly generated through the burning of natural gas and a small amount of coal, there is a clear conflict between the electric cars’ sustainable aim due to the roots of the electricity used to power it. Once the UK’s electricity generation further shifts to predominantly renewable sources such as solar, wind, or hydropower, electric cars will be a truly sustainable method of transport.

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