Every major carmaker has plans for electric vehicles to cut greenhouse gas emissions, yet their manufacturers are, by and large, making lithium-ion batteries in places with some of the most polluting grids in the world. By 2021, capacity will exist to build batteries for more than 10 million cars running on 60 kilowatt-hour packs, according to data of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Most supply will come from places like China, Thailand, Germany and Poland that rely on non-renewable sources like coal for electricity. The findings, among the more bearish ones around, show that while electric cars are emission-free on the road, they still discharge a lot of the carbon-dioxide that conventional cars do. Just to build each car battery—weighing upwards of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) in size for sport-utility vehicles—would emit up to 74 percent more C02 than producing an efficient conventional car if its made in a factory powered by fossil fuels in a place like Germany, according to Berylls’ findings. Yet regulators haven’t set out clear guidelines on acceptable carbon emissions over the life cycle of electric cars, even as the likes of China, France and the U.K. move toward outright bans of combustion engines.
Energy Voice 16th Oct 2018 read more »
All new cars in the UK will be “effectively zero emission” by 2040, under plans to tackle air pollution. The government is under pressure to bring forward this deadline and ban all sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2032, after a report by a parliamentary committee described its plans as “vague and unambitious”. But with electric cars currently accounting for less than 1% of new sales, the switch will mean seismic changes, and gives rise to a host of pressing questions. Why are petrol and diesel cars being banned? Poor air quality is the “biggest environmental risk to public health in the UK” – thought to be linked to about 40,000 premature deaths a year – the government says. While air pollution has been mostly falling, in many cities nitrogen oxides – which form part of the discharge from car exhausts – regularly breach safe levels.
BBC 19th Oct 2018 read more »
The UK government is putting the health of millions of its citizens at risk by failing to tackle the country’s air pollution crisis, according the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment. David Boyd said people’s right to breathe clean air was being violated in the UK and warned the crisis was responsible for up to 50,000 deaths – and devastating the lives of “many millions” more in towns and cities across the country. Speaking to the Guardian, he said air pollution and climate change were inextricably linked and called on the UK government to take a global lead by introducing new clean air legislation to raise standards, protect its citi zens and meet its climate obligations.
Guardian 19th Oct 2018 read more »