Some electric vehicles use up more energy in their lifetime than petrol and diesel vehicles, according to the latest research. Green NCAP, an offshoot of road safety specialist Euro NCAP, has released its first Life Cycle Assessment results.
This indicates the total life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and primary energy demand of 61 recent cars. The batch includes vehicles of all shapes and sizes, with full combustion engines, hybrids and all-electric powertrains. It factors in changing energy sources and assumes a vehicle life of 16 years or about 150,000 miles.
When comparing similar vehicle types with different powertrains – the mechanism that transmits the drive from the engine of a vehicle to its axle – it was found that although electric vehicles do not emit any tailpipe emissions, their production is much more energy intensive than petrol and diesel cars. Despite this, they still had the best result, especially once recycling was taken into account. Petrol models struggled compared with diesel because of their higher fuel consumption.
