CB BureauIndia has been classified as the least green country to
make and drive electric cars, according to a report by independent research
group Shrink That Footprint. The bottom-most ranking is due to an electricity
grid dominated by high-carbon coal.
Titled ‘Shades of Green: Electric Cars’ Carbon Emissions
Around the Globe’, the report compares the climatic impact of grid-powered
electric vehicles (EV) in 20 of the world’s major countries in grams of CO2
emitted per kilometre driven. The analysis incorporates the entire range of
electrical generation, as well as fuel and vehicle manufacturing emissions.
A fully electric car generates emissions comparable to a
20 miles per gallon (MPG) petrol vehicle, the report found. Evidently, India is
heavily dependent on coal-based power generation, which over-compensates the
emissions saved by electric vehicles. China with its coal-based power
generation is also put in the bottom rung but is less carbon intensive than
India.
Paraguay, which produces five times more
hydroelectricity than it uses, was found to be the greenest place on earth for
electric cars, producing emissions comparable to a 218 MPG petrol vehicle. As
one of the few exporters of electrical power in the world, an electric car’s
gas-burning equivalent in Paraguay would have to go 220 miles on a single
gallon of gas to be as green. In the United States, the shale gas boom is
rapidly lowering electric driving emissions by displacing coal generation.
‘This work highlights just how much the climate benefit
of going electric varies around the world. To achieve their carbon reduction
potential, electric cars need to be deployed in tandem with low-carbon
electricity,’ Lindsay Wilson, lead author of the analysis, explained.