Diesel, petrol cars or electric cars?
António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said:“Climate change is, quite simply, an existential threat for most life on the planet – including, and especially, the life of humankind”.
He’s not standing alone. From the NASA, to WWF or CDP all these important entities agree on this phenomena’s spin-off and are committed to fighting it.
The increase in sea levels, the loss of sea ices, the occurrence of extreme events such as hurricanes, droughts or intensive heat waves, show the dimension of what we are fighting here. And there’s more to come if we reach the temperature increase of 2° Celsius.
As cars make up 72% of the Co2 emissions in this sector (followed by planes, with 10%), the market of electric cars has been growing and seems to be a good solution to fight climate change. But is it true that EVs have zero emissions?
The production of electric cars is increasing, and I have assisted in several conversations about them: are they good? Are they powerful, are they nice to drive? Nowadays, diesel cars tend to have a more affordable asking price than electric ones and have better torque (power) for increased performance and towing. Since 1992, European Union regulations have been imposed on new cars, with the aim of improving air quality - meaning a car has to meet a certain Euro emissions standard when it is made. A Euro 6 diesel petrol allowed a 67% reduction in the permissible levels of nitrogen oxides in diesels and the introduction of a particle number limit for petrols.This are the arguments of people who still prefer diesel cars.
However, Electric Vehicles are cheaper to run, plus they often feature better onboard technology and are better for the environment. One example is the iconic Fiat 500, the electric version comes with a host of optional features, such as Uconnect 10,25 inch HD, and it is a city car. The initial asking price of diesel cars is often cheaper than electric models because of how expensive it is to produce the large batteries in EVs. A lot of costly sourcing of raw materials is needed for this process, and extraction isn’t cheap. Neither is the battery pack production afterwards, both of which aren’t at the same level as the supply chain for fossil fuel vehicles. On top of this, EVs feature a lot more advanced technology systems as standard because most manufacturers have still only produced a single all-electric model.
In Italy a real issue is the lack of charging points and the time it takes to change the car. The time it takes to charge an electric car depends on where you decide to charge it. This can take you as long as seven hours (overnight home charging) or at best 30 minutes (rapid charging at a public charging station).
It looks like a real dilemma, but electric cars are greener and eco-friendly. So, they seem to be a great solution to fight climate change and they are even said to have zero emissions.