Analysis

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In introduction, the author points the automobile that is most important industry in Europe to make readers initially think that the context is about the relationship between the Europe and the cars, and then he gives an example that about cheating on emission standards to deeply clarify what he would discuss about in the following paragraph. Therefore, for the following paragraph, to persuade the readers, the author instantly show the numbers of emission in carbon dioxide in 2019, and the goal they want to achieve after 2030. Also, he gives the gasoline engine and diesel engine to compare which emit more CO2, and shows the trend of CO2 emission between 2006 to 2018. It indicates that the average emissions for new registered vehicles were around 161g/km in 2006, and then because the cars become smaller and lighter, the emission falls to 118g/km. However, the emission climbs back to 120g/km by 2018. After the author discuss the gasoline engine, he tries to guide readers to the electric vehicles. And then he instantly points out the flaws which EU consider that EVs do not emit any CO2. He states that the formula is a scam because of EV’s battery. It uses a lot of fossil fuel to produce EV batteries, and it just offsets the emission reduction. Moreover, he gives another evidence to convince readers. He published a research paper with the physicist. The paper is about EV emits slightly more CO2 than diesel car, although the battery offers drivers more than half range of a tank of diesel. And the data is from VW. Furthermore, the author gives the study that shows only if the EV must drive over 219,000 km, it equals to the CO2 emission of the diesel cars, but the batteries cannot last for this distance. After that, he gives his solution that the EU need to modify its policy in its emissions trading system. Also, he believes that the EU would not do anything on this issue because it will influence many stratus. Consequently, after analyzing the whole passage, I found that author use a lot of ethos concept, like facts, research, and numbers, to get readers’ credibility. By using these evidences, he can easily convince his readers. Also, he uses the proper ideas to give his solution, and conclusion, and then he lets readers more believe the author’s passage.

060 Reading and Writing Climate Change

“Are Electric Vehicles Really So Climate Friendly?”

Hans-Werner Sinn

The Guardian

November 25, 2019

Germany’s automobile industry is its most important industrial sector. But it is in crisis, and not only because it is experiencing the effects of a recession brought on by Volkswagen’s cheating on emissions standards, which sent consumers elsewhere. The sector is also facing the existential threat of exceedingly strict 

European Union

 emissions requirements, which are only seemingly grounded in environmental policy.

The EU clearly overstepped the mark with the 

carbon dioxide regulation

 that went into effect on 17 April 2019. From 2030 onwards, European carmakers must have achieved average vehicle emissions of just 59 grams of CO2 per km, which corresponds to fuel consumption of 2.2 litres of diesel equivalent per 100 km (

107 miles per gallon

). This simply will not be possible.

As late as 2006, 

average emissions

 for new passenger vehicles registered in the EU were around 161 g/km. As cars became smaller and lighter, that figure fell to 118 g/km in 2016. But this average crept back up, owing to an increase in the market share of gasoline engines, which emit more CO2 than diesel engines do. By 2018, the average emissions of newly registered cars had once again climbed to slightly above 120 g/km, which is twice what will be permitted in the long term.

Even the most gifted engineers will not be able to build internal combustion engines (ICEs) that meet the EU’s prescribed standards (unless they force their customers into soapbox cars). But, apparently, that is precisely the point. The EU wants to reduce fleet emissions by forcing a shift to electric vehicles. After all, in its legally binding formula for calculating fleet emissions, it simply assumes EVs do not emit any CO2 whatsoever.

The implication is that if an auto company’s production is split evenly between electric vehicles and ICE vehicles that conform to the present average, the 59 g/km target will be just within reach. If a company cannot produce electric vehicles and remains at the current average emissions level, it will have to pay a fine of about €6,000 (£5,150) per car, or otherwise merge with a competitor that can build electric vehicles.

But the EU’s formula is nothing but a huge scam. Electric vehicles also emit substantial amounts of CO2, the only difference being that the exhaust is released at a remove – that is, at the power plant. As long as coal- or gas-fired power plants are needed to ensure energy supply during the “dark doldrums” when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining, EVs, like ICE vehicles, run partly on hydrocarbons. And even when they are charged with solar- or wind-generated energy, enormous amounts of fossil fuels are used to produce EV batteries in China and elsewhere, offsetting the supposed emissions reduction. As such, the EU’s intervention is not much better than a cutoff device for an emissions control system.

Earlier this year, the physicist Christoph Buchal and I

published

a research 

paper

 showing that, in the context of Germany’s energy mix, an EV emits a bit more CO2 than a modern diesel car, even though its battery offers drivers barely more than half the range of a tank of diesel. And shortly thereafter, data published by VW confirmed that its e-Rabbit vehicle emits 

slightly more CO2

 than its Rabbit Diesel within the German energy mix. (When based on the overall European energy mix, which includes a huge share of nuclear energy from France, the e-Rabbit fares slightly better than the Rabbit Diesel.)

Adding further evidence, the Austrian thinktank Joanneum Research has just published a large-scale 

study

 commissioned by the Austrian automobile association, ÖAMTC, and its German counterpart, ADAC, that also 

confirms

 those findings. According to this study, a mid-sized electric passenger car in Germany must drive 219,000 km before it starts outperforming the corresponding diesel car in terms of CO2 emissions. The problem, of course, is that passenger cars in Europe last for only 180,000km, on average. Worse, according to Joanneum, EV batteries don’t last long enough to achieve that distance in the first place. Unfortunately, drivers’ anxiety about the cars’ range prompts them to recharge their batteries too often, at every opportunity, and at a high speed, which is bad for durability.

As for EU lawmakers, there are now only two explanations for what is going on: either they didn’t know what they were doing, or they deliberately took Europeans for a ride. Both scenarios suggest that the EU should reverse its interventionist industrial policy, and instead rely on market-based instruments such as a comprehensive emissions trading system.

With Germany’s energy mix, the EU’s regulation on fleet fuel consumption will not do anything to protect the climate. It will, however, destroy jobs, sap growth, and increase the public’s distrust in the EU’s increasingly opaque bureaucracy.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/25/are-electric-vehicles-really-so-climate-friendly