European community for mobility management

Transport is the sector with the fastest growing greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Since 1990 its emissions have increased by 38%. A number of European countries have launched national programmes and promotion strategies for electric cars ranging from support for research and development to purchase incentives. But current EU policies offer no guarantee that more electric vehicles on Europe’s roads will lead to savings in carbon emissions over coming years.

Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth Europe and Transport and Environment have commissioned a study that:

• Analyses the impact of electric vehicles on the European power sector and on CO2 emissions.
• Assesses how policies should be changed in order to maximise greenhouse gas emission savings from the introduction of electric vehicles.

The study finds that electric vehicles can in principle substantially contribute to decarbonising road passenger transport and to pollutant- and noise reduction. However, increasing the number of electric vehicles without a change in current legislation could result in:

• An increase in oil consumption and CO2 emissions in the EU car sector, compared to a situation without electric vehicles.
• An increase in coal- and nuclear-based electricity production, instead of an increase in energy production from renewable sources.

Reference: Including emissions from international shipping and aviation. Source: Statistical Pocketbook Energy and Transport 2009.

The full report, its main findings and its policy recommendations to ensure that electric vehicles become an effective tool to reduce CO2 emissions are available for download at:
www.transportenvironment.org

Source: www.eltis.org