How to Avoid an Electric Shock

Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based organisation whose mission is to promote transport policy that is based on the principles of sustainable development, has recently published a report analysing what role electric cars could play in the decarbonisation of transport.

Visitors to the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show may have been left with only one impression: the future is electric. Virtually every manufacturer exhibited a car powered by batteries. Electric cars are the talk of the town.

The first aim of this report is not to add to the hype, nor to pour cold water on the enthusiasm for electric cars. It is to take a close hard look at the facts - an attempt to look behind the hype, and an attempt to bring the available scientific evidence to the attention of policy makers and the public.

The second aim, and perhaps the most important, is to offer some guidance to EU policy makers about what to do, and what not to do in the case of electric cars.

The report highlights three aspects of EU legislation that will need to be tackled if electric cars are to be a success:

• CO2 standards for cars should be tightened.
• Quantity and quality of electricity used in electric cars must be accurately measured.
• The power sector has to be further decarbonised.