It is common to see electric vehicles encouraged as a way to reduce carbon emissions produced by the normal vehicles. In fact, under the Land Transport Authority (LTA) Masterplan 2040, electric vehicles are encouraged for a more “environmentally sustainable land transport sector” (LTA, 2020). Sure, traffic is one of the leading sources why urban areas have such poor air quality, and by reducing the direct tailpipe emissions, it will greatly improve the air quality of the cities (Pant & Harrison, 2013).
What most people fail to consider, however, is that the use of electric vehicles often only reduces the direct tailpipe emissions. According to Timmers and Achten (2016), electric vehicles actually produce the same amount of PM10 as modern diesel and gasoline vehicles and that electric vehicles do not pollute significantly less than internal combustion engine vehicles, in terms of PM. Electric vehicles may contribute to pollution throughout their lifecycle through raw material extractions, processing, manufacturing, final assembly, waste disposal and electricity supply chain.
For instance, due to the lack of charging infrastructures and facilities in China, people driving hybrid electric vehicles may tend to rely more on fuel than battery itself, which in turn, produces carbon emissions and pollutes the environment as well (Wan, Sperling & Wang, 2015). Furthermore, the efficiency of electric vehicles in reducing pollution and carbon emissions also depends on the country’s energy mix. For countries that rely heavily on fossil fuel to produce their electricity, such as China, the act of switching over to electric vehicles does not necessarily mean that there will be no pollution or emissions produced by the electric vehicles.
Besides that, battery production of electric vehicles may produce 15% more emissions than the manufacturing of normal vehicles since the larger batteries require more raw material extraction and energy to produce (Nealer, Reichmuth & Anair, 2015). Thus, the promotion of electric vehicles seems like a sort of greenwashing as they intentionally exclude the hidden trade offs I have mentioned earlier. It gives consumers the wrong idea that electric vehicles can just replace their current internal combustion engine cars and can reduce their emissions and pollution, without having to change their consumption patterns.
References
Hawkins, T. R., Gausen, O. M., & Strømman, A. H. (2012). Environmental impacts of hybrid and
electric vehicles—a review. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 17(8), pp. 997-1014.
Land Transport Authority. (2020, 18 February). Supporting Cleaner and Greener Vehicles for A
Sustainable Land Transport Sector. Retrieved from https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/newsroom/2020/february/news-releases/Supporting_cleaner_and_greener_vehicles.html
Nealer, R., Reichmuth, D., and Anair, D. (2015) Cleaner Cars from Cradle to Grave: How Electric Cars Beat Gasoline Cars on Lifetime Global Warming Emissions, Union of Concerned Scientists . https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/Cleaner-Cars-from-Cradle-to-Grave-full-report.pdf
Pant, P. & Harrison, R. M. (2013). Estimation of the contribution of road traffic emissions to
particulate matter concentrations from field measurements: A review. Atmospheric Environment, 77(1), pp. 78—97.
Wan, Z., Sperling, D., & Wang, Y. (2015) China’s Electric Car Frustrations. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 34 (2015), pp.116—121.
Personally i feel the hybrid cars are suited for Singapore’s context. Because Singapore produces electricity by oil powerplants – basically, burning oil – the reduction of carbon footprint for using hybrid cars in SG is not obvious. The efficiency reduction during the electricity transportation, charging may also count additional wastage of energy. What do you think?
Yes, I also agree that hybrid cars are not very suited for Singapore’s context, considering that Singapore’s electricity is mainly dependent on natural gas and oil (which are definitely not clean or renewable compared to renewable energies). In order for hybrid cars to work in Singapore, we need to first change our electricity production from mainly nonrenewable to renewables, so to ensure that it can reduce the carbon footprint reduced. That being said, electric vehicles are not the only method to reduce the carbon footprint produced by the transportation sector. Since Singapore is relatively small, with more MRT and LRT lines built, perhaps we can consider using public transportation as a means for last mile travelling, rather than to use electric vehicle to replace internal combustion engine vehicles.