ICE SUVs Cancelling Climate Benefits of EVs

With more people recognizing the benefits of going green, electric vehicle (“EV”) sales have been steadily increasing. Despite the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant economic crisis, 2020 was quite a great year for EVs, with customers around the globe buying a whopping 3.24 million battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles. However, internal-combustion-engine- (“ICE”) powered SUVs grew in popularity as well, effectively canceling out the progress the world had made as it pushes towards electrification.

According to energy modelers Laura Cozzi and Apostolos Petropoulos, the ever-present demand for sports utility vehicles is making it much harder to reduce carbon emissions and meet global climate goals. On top of increased EV sales, 2020 also saw a 10% drop in oil consumption, or more than 1.8 million barrels a day, by ICE cars, with the exception of SUVs, Cozzi and Petropoulos say. This can mainly be attributed to reduced travel due to the pandemic, they say, and it is likely that the drop in oil consumption is just temporary.

The increased uptake of electric vehicles accounted for a drop of around 40,000 barrels a day. Unfortunately, this also corresponded with an increase in the sale of SUVs, with 42% of buyers opting for the sports utility vehicles. There are more than 280 million SUVs on the roads globally, and on average, one such vehicle consumes 20% more energy per kilometer than a medium-sized vehicle. Consequently, increased SUV sales resulted in a jump in oil consumption, canceling out the green effect of electric cars, Petropoulos says.

To maintain a proper trajectory in terms of reducing carbon emissions and meeting climate goals, Petropoulos urges policy makers to find ways to persuade people to opt for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Although global carbon gas emissions from conventional cars (excluding SUVs) fell by nearly 350 megatons from 2010–2020, emissions from SUVs increased by more than 500 megatons, effectively canceling out the gains made by choosing smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles and switching to electric vehicles.

Glen Peters from the CICERO climate research center in Norway calls the boom in SUV sales “heartbreaking.” Despite the growth of the EV market, overall emissions from all types of cars won’t fall until the demand for SUVs is reduced by a wide margin. Petropoulos posits that the growing demand for SUVs could be due to rising prosperity in countries such as South Africa and India, as well as heavy marketing by carmakers.

Nevertheless, EV makers aren’t deterred and are pressing ahead with production and innovation. For example, ev Transportation Services Inc. focuses on making light-duty commercial vehicles geared at addressing the transportation needs of essential services providers (grounds maintenance crews, for example).

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to ev Transportation Services Inc. are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/EVTS

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