Today I saw a parked car with a green segment at one end of the number plate - best picture I could find in a hurry:
View attachment 202531
So naturally, I thought,
Hello what's that about then? I immediately suspected that it might be an electric car? And the purpose of the green segment - to increase the natural feeling of smugness that goes with ownership and use of a Zero Emissions Vehicle?
Walked round the back of the car - Peugeot E208 GT.
Thirty seconds on that internet confirmed my suspicions. I learned that green number plates '
have been introduced to raise awareness of zero emissions cars on our roads and as they are easily identified it means that local authorities can offer incentives to EV drivers such as access to bus lanes, free entry into zero-emissions zones and cheaper parking.'
Now by all means call me a old sceptic - just don't lean too heavily into
old - but we all know there ain't no such thing as a free lunch and by the same token there ain't no such thing as a Zero Emissions Vehicle.
Have not been able to get very far, but it is quite clear that there is a lot of embedded CO2 from the manufacture of the vehicle, and it would appear that the embedded CO2 is in fact a great deal higher with an electric car than its petrol or diesel equivalent. '
Ah yes,' says the possessor of the Green number plate, '
but consider that when I go for a drive, there are no CO2 emissions and no other nasty, noxious emissions from a nasty fossil fuel engine!'
One estimate I've seen is that the electric car would repay that higher embedded CO2 after about 70,000 miles, by which time that battery is likely to need replacement. Even then the payback comes only if the electricity used was produced with net zero CO2 emissions (and
that's a debate for another day).
When you replace the battery, the car's embedded CO2 shoots way back up again. Because apparently, the much higher embedded environmental cost of the electric car is
largely due to the battery.
The phrase now is Lifecycle Emissions from Cars. But I haven't been able to find any useful, short-hand conclusions about the comparative Lifecycle Emissions for electric cars versus petrol or diesel. And one complicating factor is bound to be the disposal or recycling of that battery. And there are no clear unbiased data on how much noxious emissions are involved in the production and disposal of electric car battery packs.
All I know is - call me an
intolerant old sceptic - that I will probably nurse an
entirely unjustified grudge towards the drivers of cars with green number plates.
Does anyone who actually knows anything about this stuff feel like adding some useful perspective?
. OMG! 
