The report analyses nine different technologies, including electric, hybrid and combustion vehicles and considers not only their impact during their use phase, but the entire vehicle life cycle.
"According to the study," says Moreno, "an average-sized electric vehicle that travels 15,000 km per year in Spain generates 111 grams of CO2 equivalent per km travelled considering its complete life cycle, while a diesel vehicle emits 240 grams, and a petrol vehicle 274".

The Deputy Minister of the Environment specified that "although it is true that during the use stage an electric vehicle does not emit CO2 through the exhaust pipe, CO2 is emitted by both electricity generation plants and during component manufacturing, particularly battery production".

According to the study, an average-sized electric vehicle that travels 15,000 km per year in Spain on a route similar to that used in the World Harmonised Test Procedure for Light Vehicles (WLTP), which is a 52% urban and 48% interurban route, emits 111 g CO2 eq./km considering the complete life cycle, while a diesel vehicle emits 240, and a petrol vehicle 274. This means that the environmental impact of an electric car is significantly lower than that of a conventional vehicle (less than half), although it would be wrong to say that no CO2 eq. is emitted in the Life Cycle of an electric vehicle.

Electric mix

"This study considers the current electrical mixes, with their associated emissions and so it is a conservative approach, since virtually all countries have clear decarbonisation targets, so these emissions will decrease over the life cycle of the vehicle," said Elena Moreno. She added that "no consideration has been given to possible second uses or recycling of batteries in electric vehicles registered today, since these procedures have not yet been developed, but there are likely to be several solutions by the end of their useful life. Therefore, the environmental impact of electric vehicles calculated in this report is conservative and is expected to decrease continuously over time. For the same size of vehicle, route and country, the choice of one technology or another can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 29% and 78%," said the Deputy Minister.