Electric cars cannot cut CO2 emissions on their own, warn engineers

Royal Academy of Engineering calls for clarity from coalition government on plans to incentivise mass introduction of electric vehicles
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the new Japanese Nissan Motor's electric vehicle called Leaf
Nissan's new Leaf electric vehicle which goes on sale in the UK in February 2011. Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images

Electrifying the UK's cars will require a relatively modest expansion of energy generation but will not be enough on its own to cut CO2 emissions, engineers said today.

Switching all the UK's petrol and diesel road transport vehicles to electric models will require 16% extra electricity capacity, equivalent to 10GW or around six new nuclear power stations, they said. The 30m vehicles on British roads are responsible for a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions.

In a report for the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) published today, experts identified several hurdles in cleaning up the environmental footprint of the UK's road transport. These included the development of better batteries, creation of a smarter electricity grid that is more flexible at managing demand for power, and the mass-rollout of recharging points.

They also said that electrification of vehicles would not be enough on its own to cut CO2 emissions. "Swapping gas guzzlers for electric vehicles will not solve our carbon emissions problem on its own," said Roger Kemp of Lancaster University, who chaired the RAEng's electric vehicles working group. "When most electricity in Britain is still generated by burning gas and coal, the difference between an electric car and a small, low-emission petrol or diesel car is negligible."

He welcomed car-makers developing electric models such as the Nissan Leaf and government backing for more charging sockets, but said popularising electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids with individuals "is only one aspect of what is needed to reduce transport emissions."

However, the report maintained that, if the government wants to meet its ambitious targets to cut the UK's carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, cleaning up transport will be crucial. The report called for "robust leadership" from the government in the big programme of change required, something that has been lacking with recent initiatives. "For example, recent discussions on introducing smart meters to every household did not include the functionality required to manage electric vehicle charging, which could render the first generation of smart meters obsolete as the electric vehicle market grows," said Kemp.

The RAEng called for greater clarity from the new coalition government about its own plans to incentivise the mass introduction of electric vehicles, which account for little more than a thousand cars on UK roads. The last government's plan to grant motorists up to £5,000 off the price of a new electric car is now being reviewed and may not survive spending cuts. There is also uncertainty over whether funds will go ahead for nationwide demonstration projects for several hundred cars and money for basic research into battery technology.

The engineers said that, as a short-term measure, a likely alternative to fully electric cars might be a widespread adoption of plug-in hybrids, where a small internal combustion engine supplements a battery with a 50-100 mile range. This would allow full-electric cars to gain market penetration as second cars for city driving.

In addition, the way people own cars might change, with more car clubs and shared vehicles. "We face an uphill task," said Kemp. "Cars are iconic and aspirational in a way that most other energy-consuming goods are not and are central to much of our contemporary culture. In Britain, you would not get 6.4 million people tuning in to TV programmes called Top Domestic Appliances or Top Condensing Boilers in the way they do for Top Gear."

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