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  • 2019-05-02 (xsd:date)
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  • a discussion on this subject (en)
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  • According to a study conducted by the Ifo, under the leadership of German physics professor Christoph Buchal, the CO2 emissions of electric vehicles are higher than those of diesel cars. The Belgian newspaper De Standaard published this claim on their website on the 18th of April. We rate this claim as mostly false. Europe wants to reduce the CO2 emissions of its transport sector by 40% by 2030. In order to achieve this goal, Germany wants to stimulate the transition to electric cars. However, a study conducted by Ifo under the direction of Professor Christoph Buchal shows that in Germany, the CO2 emissions of electric vehicles are higher than those of diesel cars. At least, that’s what the study says using a comparison between the Tesla Model 3 and the Mercedes C220d diesel car. There are two reasons why the diesel car is considered as ‘better’ than an electric car. First of all, there is the production of the battery for an electric car. This production requires a considerable amount of energy. In addition, the batteries contain various raw materials such as lithium and cobalt, and these raw materials have to be mined. This means that the production of a Tesla Model 3 battery releases some 11 to 15 tonnes of CO2, according to the German researchers. They also take an average lifetime of ten years per battery and assume that people will drive around 15,000 kilometres per year. If we take these data, a Tesla Model 3 would emit 73 to 98 grams of CO2 per kilometre. Secondly, and very important in this study, the research was conducted in Germany. The conditions and means by which the batteries are produced must therefore be taken into account. In Germany, on average, more than a third of the electricity is produced from lignite and charcoal, which are by far the largest emitters of CO2 among electricity producers. If we look at Belgium, where the electricity is mainly derived from low-CO2 nuclear or renewable energy, we see that the emission of electric cars there is on average three to four times lower than that of an internal combustion engine. So the claim of the German researchers is not completely wrong as far as Germany is concerned, but it is not at all representative for the whole world. We have also enlisted the help of some experts in the field to investigate this claim and to see what is true and what is not. First in line is Gunter De Pooter, expert in sustainable transport: There is indeed (en)
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