Electric Vehicles May Lead to Drastic Reduction of Oil Imports by 2030
- 11/07/2015
- Transport
- Posted by Tessa Romarez
- Leave your thoughts
According to a recent Cambridge Econometrics study, large-scale use of electric vehicles can reduce oil imports in the UK by 40 percent and cut fuel bills by £13 billion.
Regular usage of the electric vehicle will result in a £1,000 savings in fuel a year for every driver. It will also reduce carbon emissions by up to 47% by 2030.
Sponsored by the European Climate Foundation, the study revealed that air pollutants like particulates and nitrogen oxide will be eliminated by the mid-century. EV use will result in a number of health benefits with a value of £1bn brought about by prevented respiratory diseases.
“There will be a transition in the next five-10 years but you won’t see a sudden shift to electric vehicles until consumers have got over their ‘range anxiety’ concerns and that will only happen with infrastructure spending,” said Philip Summerton , one of the authors of the report.
Since apparently, the number of recharging stations are few, range anxiety will still exist in drivers, and hence will hinder adoption of electric vehicles. Such a concern has been found out to be common among new drivers of EVs. But the EU is confident that the range anxiety feeling will diminish and even be gone as soon as complete recharging infrastructure is in place.
Recently, there was a European commission proposal that will grow the number of recharging station all over Europe. However, it was opposed in the UK because of the prohibitive costs involved.
Still, subsidies from the UK government were available, like the amount of £5,000 for a new plug in hybrid car sales. Such subsidies are a big help in the development of the UK EV industry.
Darren Lindsey, Michelin spokesman, said that it is now known that not only does the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions bring about benefits to people’s health and the environment, but it also offers great commercial benefits to the EV industry.
He added that in order to enjoy the maximum benefits, policymakers must create a consistent regulatory framework. A December poll involving 16,000 drivers discovered that 71 percent will change their car within the next five years.
A third of the number said they will change to a gasoline-fuelled vehicle, a quarter going for diesel, 5 percent will opt for a hybrid, and a mere 1 percent will consider an electric car.
The results showed the drivers’ attitudes when it comes to car choices. They opt for a car that is not only efficient in fuel, but is also safe, reliable, and comfortable.
It’s also clear that it will take some time before drivers can fully adopt zero emission cars.
The integration of cars that run on hydrogen to car industry plans is another challenge that must be met in order to help the clean-car industry.
Experts will have to find out if it’s better to shift hydrogen fuel into trucks or just create a pipeline that will feed the refuelling sites. Picking the better option is difficult since there is a deficiency in vital infrastructure.
But it is predicted that as soon as drivers see that the EV technology already enjoys the required supporting technology, they will become more receptive to EV adoption.