Driving an EV is always more efficient
An electric car doesn’t have an internal combustion engine (ICE) to burn fuel and convert heat into motion. Instead of carrying a miniature power plant, an EV “outsources” energy production to the grid. The EV’s motor simply uses the energy stored in its battery.
This has a significant impact on efficiency. According to T&E data, a petrol car’s engine loses 70% of the fuel’s potential energy. In contrast, an EV utilizes most of the energy stored in its battery to move the wheels. Even accounting for energy losses from charging and AC/DC conversion, an electric car only “wastes” 25% of the energy.
Dirty tailpipes
In cars with an internal combustion engine, the overwhelming majority of the CO2 emissions come out of the exhaust pipe as you drive. However, before you fill the gas tank at the pump, there are stages that also produce emissions. Namely, the oil needs to be pumped out of the ground, refined into petrol or diesel, and transported to the gas station.
The mileage and the amount of CO2 the car emits depend on many factors, and before 2020, there were many different ways to measure this. Recently, the leading economies in the world have adopted a single standard, Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP).
To give you an idea how much emissions a petrol car produces over lifetime, we dug up some data:
As a result, the average car in the EU:
- Is driven 204,000 km before “retirement”
- Consumes 12,000 liters of petrol over this time
- Creates 27.6 tonnes of CO2 emissions
EV emissions depend on the energy source
When driving an electric car, emissions stem solely from energy production. While this may seem straightforward, there are significant variations in electricity generation methods. Some countries have rapidly decarbonized their grids, investing in hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear power. Others, however, still heavily depend on coal and natural gas.
If you charge your EV solely on renewable energy, there are practically no emissions for moving from A to B. However, even charging with electricity made from fossil fuels is better than driving a petrol car.
