APPG 2030 Ban

Fair Fuel APPG for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers August 2021 Page | 30 Life Cycle Assessment in the automotive sector: a comparative case study of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and electric car From a Study carried out by Francesco Del Peroa, Massimo Delogua, Marco Pierinia from the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Italy 8 “ The study provides a comparative environmental assessment of a gasoline turbocharged ICEV and a Lithium-ion BEV by means of the LCA methodology; the analysis deals with the entire LC of the vehicles and the assessment is based on a wide range of impact categories to both human and eco-system health. Unlike most of literature works, the inventory of the production stage is mainly based on primary data while the consumption during operation is determined through a dedicated simulation model reproducing real car driving conditions in order to reduce the uncertainty as much as possible. Results of the impact assessment show that the BEV allows achieving significant impact reduction in terms of climate change thanks to the absence of exhaust gas emissions during operation; the investigation of different grid mixes for electricity production shows that this advantage significantly grows at increasing share of renewable sources. The other considered environmental impacts (acidification, human toxicity, particulate matter, photochemical ozone formation and resource depletion) result higher for the BEV than the ICEV, primarily due to the major environmental loads of powertrain construction and manufacturing. In the light of previous considerations, it appears clear that the assessment of electric cars cannot be performed using a single indicator, but it should be rather based on a more complex evaluation system. For this reason, market penetration of BEVs must be accompanied by a cautious policy which takes into consideration all the aspects of the lifecycle management. To date electric mobility appears as an effective strategy for reducing GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in regions where electricity is produced from sources with limited contribution of fossil sources. However, the production phase represents the main barrier for achieving the full maturity of this technology in any comparable environmental perspective. Future clean electricity grid mixes and the development of more sustainable production processes could strongly contribute to the convenience of BEVs by minimising GHG emissions as well as countering potential setbacks in terms of other environmental impacts .” Time to crack those rose-coloured spectacles. To charge an electric vehicle (such as a Tesla), just once , requires the burning of 40 kilogram of coal. A petrol car will require about 20 kilograms of petrol for the same distance. It follows that the electric car is emitting about double the CO 2 of a petrol fuelled car. Drax power station is a large biomass and coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, England, capable of co-firing Petroleum coke (Petcoke). It has a 2.6 GW capacity for biomass and 1.29 GW capacity for coal. Its name comes from the nearby village of Drax. It is situated on the River Ouse between Selby and Goole On the other hand, the manufacturing of BEV has a greater load with respect to ICEV, especially for the large use of metals, chemicals and energy required by specific components of the electric powertrain such as the high-voltage battery. To suggest, as some ill- informed environmentalists have, that electric cars ‘emit no CO 2 ’ is absurd because the power stations that charge them up, do.