Brown's electric vehicle push "only as green as the electricity"
Wednesday 08 April 2009
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| Ministers have said they want to test out electric cars in two or three projects |
Chancellor Alistair Darling looks set to confirm in his Budget later this month that a major trial for electric cars will take place in three UK cities from next year.
But the renewable energy industry has warned that the shift to electric vehicles will be only as green as the electricity used to power them - and at present that means only 5% renewable.
According to an interview of Prime Minister Gordon Brown published in the Independent today, city councils will be able to bid to become one of two or three "green cities" for trials to begin in 2010.
The government will negotiate with power suppliers to develop networks of recharging points, the article said.
Mr Brown's confirmation came six months after transport secretary Geoff Hoon announced a £100 million trial for electric vehicles (see this New Energy Focus story), which he had said would take place by the end of this year, but now looks set to take place next year.
Energy experts said today that the charging of vehicles could work with decentralised generating systems, such as solar panels or small wind turbines, to charge cars locally.
The UK's clean energy trade body, the Renewable Energy Association, pointed out that the use of electric cars as an environmental alternative to petrol or diesel-powered vehicles would be "only as green as the electricity that charges the batteries".
Gaynor Hartnell, the REA's director of policy, said: "It is vital that the electric vehicles push ties in directly with an even greater expansion of renewable electricity at all scales, otherwise we will be building yet more dirty power stations.
"The government will need to bring renewables, the network infrastructure and car industries together to ensure that this happens."
The view was mirrored by environmental NGOs, with Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins saying: "Gordon Brown's electric dream is commendable but essentially misses the point - renewable energy is what we need.
"Electric cars are only as green as the energy they run on - and the renewable energy industry is on its knees. Only by dramatically ramping up support to renewable energy companies and cutting energy waste will we cut greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to avoid a climate catastrophe," Mr Atkins added.
EU figures
The government will need to bring renewables, the network infrastructure and car industries together.
The REA claimed this afternoon that the UK's intention is to use a European average for the renewable content of electricity being used by electric cars when calculating contributions to the 2020 renewable energy target.
This would mean assuming that electric vehicles are using electricity that has a 15% renewable energy content, rather than the actual UK figure of around 5%.
"For the UK this will mean the use of electric vehicles will inflate the official figures on the amount of renewable electricity generation in the UK," the trade association said.
Ms Hartnell explained to New Energy Focus that the wording of Europe's new Renewable Energy Directive would allow the UK to "fudge the figures". However, she did not anticipate the government pushing for a surge in electric car use just to help meet the UK's 15% renewable energy target.
"I don't suppose that would be the motivation for this," she said.
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