Europe has thus far been quicker to adopt stricter emissions and fuel economy standards, which has also led to faster EV adoption than places like North America. Now, a new study from automotive business intelligence company JATO has determined that this electrification push drove down CO2 emissions in the region by a sizeable amount last year.
According to data collected by JATO Dynamics in 21 countries across Europe, the volume-weighted average CO2 emissions (NEDC) of vehicles registered in 2020 was 106.7 g/km – 12 percent lower than the average recorded in 2019. The company attributes this drop in CO2 emissions to tougher government regulations, including the enforcement of WLTP fuel economy rules, as well as a shift in consumer attitudes in favor of electric vehicles.
“Although the industry still needs to do more to meet the European Commission’s CO2 targets, manufacturers have demonstrated significant progress with their range and sales in 2020,” said Felipe Munoz, JATO’s global analyst. “Registrations of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles totaled 1.21 million units last year – 10.6 percent of the total market. This is an increase from 2019, when volume totaled 466,000 units, accounting for just 3.1 percent of total registrations.”
Another contributing factor to the rising popularity of EVs in Europe is purchase incentives offered within economic stimulus packages. Meanwhile, the increase in electrified vehicle purchases also had an impact on ICE vehicle sales, which fell from 14.7 million units in 2019 to 8.6 million last year, though they still accounted for 3 out of every 4 cars registered in Europe.
Six countries posted average emissions below 100g/km: the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, France, and Finland. This also reflects the ranking for countries with the highest registration of EVs, with Sweden (32 percent) and the Netherlands (25 percent) topping the list. On the flip side, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland all registered the highest CO2 averages and recorded low levels of EV penetration.
Taking this data into consideration, it’s no surprise that Ford has committed that by mid-2026, 100 percent of the automaker’s passenger vehicle range in Europe will be zero-emissions capable, all-electric, or plug-in hybrid, and will be completely all-electric by 2030, though those plans could be spoiled by recent efforts to phase out PHEVs in the next few years.
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Comments
What are they burning (sold by Russia- gas and oil) to generate their electricity????? I’m guessing in places such as France, that is 90%+++ Nuclear power, the figures are good. Here in the US, we have Woke idiots, they have no idea how much of our power is from what source, they actually believe electric means zero emissions! They [the wokes] also are anti nuclear power! They are so full of wind, they feel wind will do everything we need-all the time. sad
Outstanding comment, the author may also be “brain dead” on the science of “well to wheel” emissions with the entire world as the system boundary
Or maybe some “woke idiots” realize that by spending to improve infrastructure, they look to build out alternative forms of energy production. I don’t understand why people seem to think we need to have the power plants for it now or even that 15-20 years down the road there wont be significant improvement! Technology does advance you know! I am not a fan of banning the sale of ICE vehicles by 2030s but, if it does come down to that, I am inclined to believe we (United States) will be in a better position to reach desired emissions numbers.
Don’t you know that if you do not see how electricity is generated in some far off place, there are no carbon emissions produced from it? I’ve asked in a previous post how electric vehicles can be considered so much more efficient by their experts. Don’t you have the same combustion inefficiencies in generating the electricity in the first place to power that you have in an ICE? Also, isn’t a very significant percentage of that power lost during transmission? Then, there are the losses in converting that electric power into chemical storage, only to be converted yet again into electrical, then mechanical energy. Don’t MPGe claims violate the laws of physics? There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
You need national reliability standards which regulated utilities are held accountable for.
Individual residential systems are not held to any reliability/availability standards that are enforced by FERC or NERC.
So, left on your own, you sink or swim based on your own assets so if the sun doesn’t shine and the wind don’t blow you need other sources.
Production is the key in your statement. Solid reliable production requires, both renewable and, probably, nuclear, to have reductions in CO2 but, with reliability.
Sans, production, welcome to Texas in the cold.
Oh wow, spend tens of thousands more on an EC vehicle compared to ICE and save an alleged 12%, what a deal!
People will believe any biden-like BS they’re told by any ‘author’ that spouts it.
When they start serving plates full of the same BS they’re liable to swallow it, too.
What a bunch of sheep!
SHEESH.