
Do hybrids and electric cars produce more CO2?
According to a study held in the UK, headed by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership and Ricardo, electric cars and hybrids do pose a larger risk of carbon emissions as expected compared to conventional cars in terms of production. According to this study, producing electric and hybrid cars tends to be more productive intensive and they emit more carbon dioxide compared to the production conventional cars. This report was presented at the Annual Conference of LowCVP in 2011. The focus of the study was based on the life cycle of vehicles in lieu with their carbon production. It shows that the CO2 savings on Low Carbon vehicles such as the EV are lost during the disposal and manufacturing processes. The average emissions from different vehicles have varying results. These results show that while there are minimized emissions from the hybrid and electric vehicles, the production emissions tend to be significantly higher. Therefore, if you take a look at how much the missions are really in actual numbers, the so called better options emit 100% more carbon dioxide compared to conventional cars. This is a staggering number and that means there is a lot more to consider in addressing global warming.
A standard gasoline powered car emits 204 CO2e tonnes while a hybrid could be a bit lower at 19 to 21 tonnes. However, if you look at the emissions in the production per car, at 23%, the standard gasoline has a lower impact compared to the 31 to 46% of the so called better driving solutions. Therefore, the estimated solutions rise from 5.6 tonnes in standard cars to 8.8 tonnes on an electric car. What does this mean? Manufacturers need to understand that they are only offsetting the emissions in the production phase and at that point, manufacturing processes tend to be harder to change due to the cost of production that they have to push forward. However, for gas powered cars, there is still hope in making them less risky when it comes to CO2 emissions.
Innovations can still be made to produce less harmful cars that emit the lowest possible amounts of CO2 every time you drive them. Consumers also need to be aware about the advantages and risks that modern innovations are offering. Are they truly safe for the environment or are the disadvantages just being offset to one aspect of the car's life cycle? Looking at the numbers, it seems like the manufacturers need to find ways if they truly want products that can help resolve the pressing issue off climate change and global warming. If you are not concerned about these realities, then the possibilities of a better automobile industry is still bleak. The future of car production that is truly environmentally conscious still needs a lot of improvement and while we wait for innovations to address these concerns, car owners need to make use of what is actually available right now in the market. These innovations are yet to make significant impact but even with small steps, these are still significant changes to make the world a much better place.
