‘What’s going to happen to all those cars?’: We asked an expert if it’s time to switch to an EV

It can be difficult to know what the most environmentally friendly car option is. Is it best to keep your current vehicle until it dies, buy a new electric car or convert your car to electric or hybrid?

Low-emissions zones and a potential combustion engine ban are forcing car owners in the UK and EU to consider greener modes of transport.

With passenger cars emitting as much as 3.2 metric tons of CO2 a year globally, and the temperature rise creeping ever closer to the 1.5C limit, there’s no doubt we need to decarbonise the way we travel.

But how we achieve this is still up for debate.

With 250 million cars currently on Europe’s roads - the majority of which are fossil fuel powered - scrapping older vehicles might not be the answer.

“We need to think much more holistically about how these vehicles affect the environment, not just fixate on a tailpipe and eliminating that,” says Nick Molden, founder and chief executive of Emissions Analytics, a company that analyses the environmental impact of vehicles.

One of the major distinctions between the CO2 emissions (CO2e) of producing an EV and a combustion engine car is the battery.

“For an electric car, [it takes around] about eight to 10 tonnes of manufacturing emissions to produce [an 80 kilowatt hour] battery,” says Nick.

This takes into account materials mined and refined in China, where coal is still a major energy source. As the world shifts to renewable energy, this figure will drop.

Once on the road, however, battery-powered EVs are emissions-free - unlike combustion engine cars.

“An average car in the UK… like a Nissan Qashqai or a Ford Kuga… will emit [roughly] two to three tonnes of CO2 per year, from an average driver driving about 15,000 kilometres per year,” Nick