Are electric cars cleaner?

Compare the lifetime CO₂ emissions of an electric car with a petrol car, a diesel car or another electric car.

3x less Electric cars in Europe emit, on average, more than 3 times less CO2 than equivalent petrol cars.

83% In the best case scenario, an electric car with a battery produced in Sweden and driven in Sweden can emit 83% less than an equivalent petrol car.

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Yoann Gimbert

Senior Data Analyst, E-mobility Brussels (EU)

Analysis of lifecycle emissions

Lifecycle emission analysis covers the amount of CO₂ emitted during the use phase when electricity is produced or fuel is burned, as well as during the production phase with the carbon impact of resource extraction for batteries and manufacturing of the vehicle.

We find out that electric cars in Europe emit, on average, more than 3 times less CO₂ than equivalent petrol cars.

In the worst case scenario, an electric car with a battery produced in China and driven in Poland still emits 37% less CO₂ than petrol. And in the best case scenario, an electric car with a battery produced in Sweden and driven in Sweden can emit 83% less than petrol.

We also see that electric cars bought in 2030 will reduce CO₂ emissions four-fold thanks to an EU grid relying more and more on renewables.

Despite their green credentials, hybrids (HEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) lifecycle emissions are much closer to polluting conventional petrol cars than to BEVs. The results show that HEVs only achieve a 21% reduction in LCA emissions compared to an equivalent petrol car while PHEV improvements are limited to 26%.

For cars bought in 2030, a hybrid vehicle powered by a blend of e-fuels and petrol would reduce its lifecycle emissions by just 5% compared to powering the same vehicle with petrol. If the hybrid vehicle runs on pure renewable e-fuel – a hypothetical scenario, unlikely to be achieved – it could emit 82% less. Even then, the cleanest battery electric vehicle would still be 27% cleaner than the pure e-fuel hybrid, mainly due to the low efficiency of the e-fuel production process.

This tool will be updated as new data is available. For more information about the way we selected and compiled data, please read the attached briefing and FAQ.