🔎 What’s going on?
A study by Nottingham Trent University shows that by switching all cars in the UK to electric, then total UK emissions would be cut by 12%.
🚙 Yup, you better believe it!
Switching all vehicles (32 million) to electric vehicles in the UK such as Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf or Jaguar I Pace would reduce total national emission by 42 million tonnes carbon according to researchers.
Earlier this week, in support of this vision, the UK government also announced rolling out 6000 Electric Vehicle charging stations across the UK by 2035. This was announced as part of the UK budget where £500m was allocated to the Rapid Charging Fund. In 2035, the government is aiming to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK.
To further enhance the UK’s commitment to transforming the transport sector, the government also announced a £2bn to encourage people to cycle and walk more.
❓Why should I care?
In the UK, transport contributes the most to carbon emissions. In addition, this sector also contributes to air pollution. During the COVID-19 lockdown, countries all over the world have experienced clear blue skies with the lowest levels of PM2.5 for the first time. Switching to electric vehicles will reduce carbon emissions and air pollution. Additionally, running an electric car costs less over the lifetime of owning it and it’s cheaper to maintain as well.
🚦 Where do we need to be?
COP26 President, Alok Sharma has already indicated during the Petersberg Climate Dialogue that the UK will be leading on turning the UK transport sector to net-zero by 2050. We need to decarbonise the transport sector globally.
👤 What can I do about it?
You guessed it, switch your vehicle to an electric if you can afford it.
Here are all of last year’s newly-registered battery electric vehicles models: Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf, Jaguar I-Pace, BMW i3, Volkswagen e-Golf, Renault Zoe, Nissan E-NV200, Tesla Model S, and Tesla Model X.