Up to 841 million kg of CO2 could be avoided from entering the atmosphere this bank holiday weekend if everyone in the UK travelled by an EV, reveals ChargePoint, one of the world’s largest EV charging networks.
The RAC has predicted that 18 million journeys by car will be undertaken this bank holiday weekend in the UK – a huge 10% rise from the previous year. As people head off on ‘staycations’ and fun day trips in the car, ChargePoint has calculated how much CO2 would be avoided if these journeys were done in purely electric vehicles (EV) – and the findings are shocking.
André ten Bloemendal, VP – Europe at ChargePoint said, “Our team has found that if all 18 million journeys were only 8.4 miles each way, the length of the UK’s average car journey, a huge 38,729,395 KGs of CO2 would avoided from entering our planet’s atmosphere. On the other side of the scale, if all 18 million journeys travelled the average staycation distance of 310 miles, the CO2 saving would shoot up to a massive 841,337,875 KGs avoided.
“These statistics show the positive impact having more EVs on the road would make for the environment. To lower our carbon emissions both globally and in the UK, it is vital that transport becomes cleaner, and the answer to this is electric vehicles.
“We are already seeing progress on this front – as a commitment to becoming carbon net zero emissions the UK Government has already banned the sale of new petrol and diesel cars after 2036. However, we are calling on the government and the private sector to continue to invest in the EV infrastructure across the UK, and urgently, in order to move forward with the electrification of transport, across rural and urban locations.”
Maths:
If pure EVs make up 4.7% of the market, that means out of trips made over the bank holiday weekend, only 846,000 were made by EVs (4.7% of 18M = 846,000).
Therefore, 17,154,000 cars aren’t EVs (18M – 846,000 = 17,154,000).
We need to work out how much CO2 would be saved if the 17,154,000 were EVs, driving an average of 310 miles based on the UK MPG average of 38.8
17,154,000 x 310 = 5,317,740,000 miles
5,317,740,000 miles / 38.8 MPG = 147,055,154 gallons of fuel
19,4 lbs CO2 per gallon x 147,055,154 = 2,952,869,987.6 lbs of CO2 produced
Lbs converted to kg = 1,339,399,296 kgs of CO2
Electric Needed
Average 3 miles per kWh
5,317,740,000/3 = 1,772,580,000 kWh
The UK government report on the carbon emissions for homes on the average energy fuel mix. In 2019, these figures were 0.256 kg of CO2 per kWh of electricity
1,772,580,000 x 0.256 kg CO2 per kWh = 453,780,480 KG CO2 in electricity generation for power to drive those miles if all electric
1,339,399,296 kgs of CO2 (of ICE) – 453,780,480 kg of Electricity Generation = 885,618,816 KG of CO2 saved
16.8 (average journey in UK being 8.4 miles)
We need to work out how much CO2 would be saved if the 17,154,000 were EVs, driving an average of 16.8 miles based on the UK MPG average of 38.8
17,154,000 x 16.8 = 288,187,200 miles
288,187,200 miles / 38.8 MPG = 7,427,505 gallons of fuel
19,4 lbs CO2 per gallon x 7,427,505 = 144,093,600 lbs of CO2 produced
Lbs converted to kg = 65,359,758 kgs of CO2
Average 3 miles per kWh across EVs
288,187,200 /3 =96,062,400 kWh
The UK government report on the carbon emissions for homes on the average energy fuel mix. In 2019, these figures were 0.256 kg of CO2 per kWh of electricity
96,062,400 x 0.256 kg CO2 per kWh = 24,591,974 KG CO2 in electricity generation for power to drive those miles if all electric
65,359,758 kgs of CO2 (of ICE) – 24,591,974kg of Electricity Generation = 40,767,784KG of CO2 saved
