Cleaner and greener

People keep asking Driven whether we think the tipping point where EVs become a viable option for everyday motoring is far away.

For some enthusiastic souls that point has already been reached. And, certainly, there are reasonably priced options available for those wanting an EV.

Though there are cheaper used options on the market, new EVs can still be relatively expensive compared with conventionally powered cars.

But that will change as manufacturers ramp up production of EVs. Industry experts say prices will decrease as production numbers increase, although they point out that huge sums spent on developing EVs will also have to be recouped eventually.

So it was interesting this week to read about Volkswagen (yes we know about the emissions scandal of 2015) publishing data that shows EVs are genuinely cleaner than

petrol and diesel models, when you take into account their production and the supply of power to keep them running.

The German brand says over the cars’ entire lifespans, pure electric vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions have a smaller cradle-tograve carbon footprint than petrol or diesel-engined rivals.

The company pitted the stats for an electric e-Golf against a dieselpowered Golf TDI to illustrate the differences in the carbon footprint of both vehicles.

That fits in with other research suggesting that CO2 emissions produced by electric vehicles charged with non-renewable power are 40 per cent lower than outputs of cars with internal combustion engines.