A new study has poured cold water on the contribution of electric vehicles (EVs) to reducing global carbon dioxide emissions.
A study by researchers from the University of Auckland and Xiamen University in China, published in the journal Energy this week, said there was little point buying an EV if it was charged from electricity generated by fossil fuels.
“In fact, when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions, your EV may be doing more harm than good,” the study report said.
The researchers analysed the environmental impacts of human activity to gauge what was driving carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.
“Using data from 26 countries over 15 years, they found a surprising trend: higher EV uptake was linked to increased carbon dioxide emissions,” the report said.
“The reason? In a number of countries, EVs are still being powered by electricity generated through burning fossil fuels like coal or oil.”
Associate Professor Stephen Poletti and Simon Tao, a doctoral candidate at the Business School’s Energy Centre, said they did not observe any significant reduction in carbon emissions off the back of EV adoption.
“On the contrary, EV adoption is positively associated with CO₂ emissions,” Mr Tao said. “This finding appears counterintuitive; it challenges the conventional belief that EVs contribute to decarbonisation.
“Our analysis highlights that the environmental benefits of EVs are contingent on the composition of a country’s electricity generation mix.”
The study results suggested EVs would only start reducing carbon when renewable energy generation reached 48 percent of the global power grid.
Currently renewable energy accounted for about 30 percent of the world’s electricity.
The full report is on the University of Auckland website.
