Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the lifecycle environmental impact of electric vehicles.

Lifecycle analysis of UK road vehicles, conducted by Ricardo Energy & Environment on behalf of the Department for Transport, shows that the lifetime carbon emissions of electric vehicles are lower than equivalent petrol and diesel vehicles. Over its lifetime, including manufacture, a battery electric car will save approximately 65% greenhouse gas emissions compared to an equivalent petrol car. As the UK’s electricity supply is increasingly decarbonised, savings are expected to grow to approximately 76% by 2030 and 81% by 2050. These lifecycle emissions reductions are consistent across vehicle types, with battery electric articulated heavy goods vehicles expected to save approximately 74-78% greenhouse gas emissions compared to equivalent diesel trucks by 2030. The study can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lifecycle-analysis-of-uk-road-vehicles.