Guide to electric vehicles

Battery electric vehicles do not produce carbon emissions at the point of use. (Hybrid electric vehicles do, when running on petrol or diesel power.)

There can be carbon emissions associated with the production of the electricity used to recharge the vehicle. The UK ‘mains’ electricity mix is gradually moving towards a greater ratio of renewable energy all the time and so EVs are becoming more environmentally friendly as this transition progresses. Did you know that the UK government is committed to a plan to decarbonise the UK power system by 2035?

Even today, however, some public chargepoint operators already source their energy from renewable sources, and those that do will often advertise this on the chargepoint or on their website. If you are installing a chargepoint at home or on your own premises and want to power this with renewable electricity, many energy firms supplying power to homes and businesses are able to offer to supply your property and the chargepoint with cleanly generated power.

Overall, despite the emissions related to power generation and other emissions created during car production, evidence has shown that EVs save on total greenhouse gas emissions over their lifecycle compared to typical petrol and diesel vehicles.