Electric cars may not reduce carbon dioxide emissions - and could even increase them, a green lobby group warned yesterday. The Environmental Transport Association said generating electricity - by burning coal and oil - to charge the so-called 'clean' cars could cancel out the benefit of abandoning fossil fuel vehicles. Its report said hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius could be the 'greenest' as they do not rely on mains power to charge batteries.
It added that if electric cars become widely used, they would need a meter on the dashboard to charge motorists as they drive. The report represents a potential blow to Gordon Brown's stated dream of making
It also said there is potential for improvement in performance and reduction of costs in the medium term, but not enough to suggest electric cars could compete head-on with conventional vehicles within the next two decades.
Even if the National Grid has the capacity and infrastructure to meet the needs of electric cars, demand could lead to greater use of coal and nuclear power. The report warned that European officials have assumed that electric cars are 'zero-emission', and failed to take into account the electricity they use.
But it said that once the effect of burning fossil fuels is taken into account, they actually emit more CO2 than a hybrid car. It calculates that an electric car has emissions of