There is growing public concern about climate change, which has sparked a worldwide interest in reducing carbon emissions. This means electric cars are becoming ever more appealing, and EVs like the MG ZS EV have gained a reputation for being a sustainable solution to current environmental issues. But are electric cars better for the environment and do they deserve the ‘clean’ label attached to them?
A major benefit of electric cars is that they produce close to zero running emissions at street level, as they do not have an exhaust pipe. This can reduce air pollution in towns and cities as electric cars produce approximately 17-30% less greenhouse gasses over their entire life cycle than petrol or diesel cars, according to reports by the European Environmental Agency.
Electric cars are also more efficient in comparison. A study in the EU found that an electric car using electricity produced by an oil-fired station would use only two-thirds of the energy of a petrol car traveling the same distance. This means that electric cars produce less greenhouse gas emissions as they require less fuel to produce energy.
Generating greenhouse gasses will have the same negative effects on the environment, whether it be in the city from a car, or at a power plant. However, the direct impact on human health is considerably less when these gasses are generated outside of the city, away from the roadsides of homes, parks, schools and high streets.
One of the greatest benefits of owning an electric car is that they are cheaper to run than a petrol or diesel car, all thanks to being powered by a battery. But have you ever wondered how bad these batteries are for the environment?
The manufacturing process of electric cars does produce more emissions than the production of conventional cars. This is because there’s a range of rare earth metals used in the construction of the battery. The extraction and manipulation of these rare earth metals contributes to their greenhouse emissions. Despite this, electric cars remain good for the environment because technological advancements and efficiencies in the industry will see those emissions reduce as electric cars become more mainstream.
As well as this, the EV battery recycling market is quickly growing, and the industry is also predicted to benefit from this. There’s an increased need for technological advances in manufacturing techniques and the process of recovering and reusing the valuable metals within batteries that have reached end of life. This helps to reduce the lifetime environmental impact of the manufacturing of batteries as there is a reduced reliance on mining and the production of new batteries.
Another environmentally beneficial aspect of electric cars is that they are much quieter than conventional cars.
This helps with noise pollution in cities where driving speed tends to be low, and standstill traffic is common.
Yes. Electric cars like our MG ZS EV have the edge over conventional petrol or diesel cars in terms of environmental impact. Electric cars produce fewer emissions through their lifecycle in comparison to conventional petrol or diesel cars. With renewable energy on the rise and continuous technological advancements in manufacturing, the production process will inevitably become more refined and sustainable.
As well as all this, European governments are becoming increasingly accommodating for electric cars as they will undoubtedly play a big role in reducing transport emissions. With all this in mind, it’s becoming clear that electric vehicles are the future of motoring.