DUH Analysis: E-cars Greener than Combustion Engines - E-SUVs Counteract Climate Protection

The production, use, and disposal of every vehicle impacts the environment. Nevertheless, numerous life cycle assessments show that electric cars, over their entire life cycle (production, use, and disposal), are less harmful to the climate and environment than comparable vehicles with internal combustion engines. During use, electric cars emit no harmful exhaust gases and cause less noise in city traffic. Additionally, electric cars are significantly more efficient: in a gasoline-powered engine, only about 20 percent of the used energy is utilized for propulsion, whereas in an electric vehicle, including charging losses, it is 64 percent.

“To reduce environmental impacts from the extraction of critical raw materials, car manufacturers should not solely rely on resource-intensive battery technologies, such as lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries. Particularly for small cars, alternative battery systems, such as sodium batteries, which do not require critical resources, are suitable," demands DUH head of circular economy Thomas Fischer.

The longer the use of a battery, the better its environmental performance, for example through a "second life": with a residual capacity of about 70 percent, decommissioned drive batteries are still well suited as stationary energy storage for renewable energies, the organization notes. However, there is currently a lack of legal requirements ensuring good conditions for long use, repair, and reuse. It is necessary to also allow independent actors good availability of spare parts as well as access to security-relevant data and the battery management system. The DUH calls on the federal government to quickly close these gaps within the framework of the National Circular Economy Strategy, the implementation of the EU Battery Directive, and in the context of current EU processes (particularly the right to repair, end-of-life vehicle directive, and eco-design regulation).