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As the centrepiece of her political mandate, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today presented her European Green Deal, a comprehensive climate and nature package of measures to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. The package includes: a 50-55% emissions reduction target for 2030; a climate law to reach net zero emissions by 2050; a fund worth €100 billion to finance the transition; a carbon border tax; and a series of initiatives for sectors such as transport, agriculture, chemicals, buildings and more. Transport & Environment (T&E), Europe’s leading research and campaign group on clean transport, welcomes the announcement but warns that more needs to be done in transport if we want to fully decarbonise transport and transition to a net zero economy in 2050.

In 2018, there were 15,500 sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the UK which is expected to at least double in each year to 2021 by which time around 125,000 BEVs will be sold. The increase in sales arising from the need for manufacturers to meet regulatory targets to lower new car CO2 emissions and avoid high penalties and the significant reputational risks of failing to comply. To ensure targets will be met carmakers are launching large numbers of new BEVs and PHEVs and investing in significant new production capacity.

Hans-Werner Sinn is quite the character. This German economics professor’s writings range from the Greek crisis to migration, to German energy policy. Recently he has discovered a new passion: electric vehicles. Back in April Sinn published a paper claiming electric cars were worse than diesel. The study was roundly criticised for being misleading. Even Germany’s largest carmaker VW felt compelled to publicly contradict the report days after its publication, giving a rare glimpse of its own lifecycle analysis based on company-specific data that shows Volkswagen EVs are better than their diesels.

After years of heel dragging and fighting truck fuel efficiency standards, it looks like the world’s biggest truckmaker Daimler might be stepping up its game. Last month they announced that by 2039 all their new trucks and buses will be CO2 neutral. According to Daimler this can only be achieved with battery electric and hydrogen technologies. This announcement seems to be a major step for an industry that not so long ago mainly saw biofuels and gas vehicles as clean alternatives. 

Unlike combustion engines that burn oil, batteries do not burn lithium or other minerals like cobalt and nickel, which can be fully recovered and used again.

The world’s biggest truck manufacturer, Daimler, has said it will no longer develop fossil gas-powered trucks as they will not advance its goal of offering a carbon-neutral fleet. Daimler Trucks said it would instead invest in electric and hydrogen lorries.

Kia Motors dealers in Spain are not allowed to sell pure battery electric cars or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) until the first day of next year under new management instructions. In a letter sent to the entire dealership network of Kia Motors in Spain, the director of planning and logistics, Javier Casado, urged dealers to postpone invoicing EVs and PHEVs as of 1 October and delay the registration of the same type of vehicles as from 1 November. All these ‘obligations’, the letter reads, are ‘unavoidable’ and must be observed ‘without exception’. The sales ‘restrictions will be eliminated as of 01 January 2020’.

The rise of affordable electric cars is driven by EU law and achievable based on carmakers’ latest production plans.Carmakers have four tools at hand to comply with the law: EV boost; improvements to combustion engine; stop selling highest-emitting cars; and pooling with EV makersBoosting EV sales is the most future-proof strategy and the one chosen by key European brands The cost of the investments required to meet the climate targets for cars is estimated to be about half of that incurred by the penalties for failing to complySurge in SUVs from 7% in 2009 to 36% in 2018, and not the decline in diesel sales, is principally to blame for the recent rise in CO2 emissions from new cars

Are electric cars ‘better’ or not? It’s a question that animate discussions on social media, in the papers or at dinner with friends. Now that wind and solar are really taking off there’s less discussion about whether electricity can be clean. So the focus has shifted to batteries and countless articles debate and question the environmental, human rights and other credentials of batteries.

Are electric cars ‘better’ or not? It’s a question that animate discussions on social media, in the papers or at dinner with friends. Now that wind and solar are really taking off there’s less discussion about whether electricity can be clean. So the focus has shifted to batteries and countless articles debate and question the environmental, human rights and other credentials of batteries.