ZERO, an association born in 2015 with the goal of achieving sustainable development in Portugal, warns about the worrying trend in electric vehicle sales in Portugal. They claim that Plug-in Hybrid cars are a 'façade', as they can cause more pollution than conventional cars.
ZERO warns of serious deficiencies in the regulation of CO2 emissions applied to new car sales in the European Union (EU),in particular since the beginning of 2020 with the introduction of the limit of 95 gCO2 / km. Although recognizing that the standards have led to some good results, these deficiencies allowed the real emissions of new cars to actually increase between 2016 and 2019, thanks to sales of sport utility vehicles, the SUV (Sport Utility Vehicles). SUVs are heavy and large automobiles, with minimal aerodynamics and in recent years they have been representing an increasingly larger share of sales, reaching 39% in the first half of 2020.
In addition, about half of the electric cars sold in the EU are plug-in hybrids 'front' - so considered because they have low autonomies in electric mode. They are rarely charged, have powerful internal combustion engines, and are also often large and heavy (many are SUVs), which in practice makes them present CO2 emissions two to four times higher than those recorded in the tests.
Despite this, the European regulation allows car manufacturers to promote the benefits for the sale of these cars - the super-credits, which have allowed the plug-in 'facade' to double for the purpose of calculating the average emissions of their fleets (this mechanism, however, is expected to be phased out from 2021).
Comments
You might have a long wait. Non-fossil energy technologies are being held back by the oil barons so we are forced to continue buying their black gold.
Agree. But electric cars are also circular.
We are nowhere near operating without fossil fuels so electric cars will increase their use.
Not to mention the problems manufacturing and disposing of the batteries.
However, I look forward to next generation of electric vehicles, but I will wait until the technology is available that allows me to drive 500km or more before I have to charge it, and the charge takes less than 30 minutes.
When this happens I will definitely purchase one.
Hydrogen power is more likely to be the future purely due to practicality.
Until then a hybrid will be my next car.
My personal experience with my own plug-in hybrid SUV is in in stark contrast. Yes it's heavy, about 2T. It has a modest 2l gasoline engine which runs when the plug-in charge is depleted - usually 35~40 km of normal driving, less on the motorway. I always charge mine up, that is the whole point of having the plug-in variant. (Solar by day, off-peak by night). But even when running wholly on the internal combustion engine, the vehicle still only consumes between 4 & 5 L/100km, similar consumption to that of a small family hatchback. I cannot comment on the true CO2 emissions as I do not know but the low consumption would tend to suggest they are quite tame. The 40L tank lasts me for months.