For years, the EU has classified electric cars as “climate-neutral” and marketed them to the public as the ultimate solution for saving the climate. But are electric cars really “climate-neutral,” as stipulated in EU Climate Regulation 2019/631?
Of course not—unless you use only the EU’s current measurement method for evaluation, in which CO2 emissions are measured exclusively at the exhaust in the form of exhaust gases.
And as we all know: Electric cars don’t have exhaust pipes!
The new study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), titled “Defossilization Instead of Decarbonization,” challenges this exclusive EU perspective on electric vehicles and calls for the entire life cycle of an electric vehicle to be taken into account when assessing its carbon footprint.
Looking at the exhaust pipe alone doesn’t tell the whole story
What matters is the total greenhouse gas emissions a vehicle generates—from the extraction of raw materials through production and energy supply to use and recycling.
That is why, in our view, the same standard should apply to all types of powertrains and fuels. Only a transparent assessment of the entire life cycle allows for a meaningful comparison between battery-electric vehicles, e-fuels, and other options.
The same applies to e-fuels: Their greenhouse gas footprint is not fixed across the board. It is influenced, among other things, by the type of energy used, the source of the CO₂ employed, and how they are produced and transported.
