Electric Cars: The Perfect Panacea For Reducing Air Pollution

Author - Ashvin Suri, Founder of E-Zoomed, a Creditplus partner: Ashvin has been involved with the renewables, energy efficiency and infrastructure sectors since 2006.

He is passionate about the transition to a low-carbon economy and electric transportation.

Prior to that he was an investment banker with JPMorgan. He was awarded an MBA from the London Business School in 1998.

Climate Change And Air Pollution

It was Friday evening last week. I had just finished a meeting with the Energy Saving Trust and was eager to get back to the office before the start of the weekend.

As I emerged from the tube station near my office, I found myself in the midst of a climate change protest by Extinction Rebellion.

Indeed, it was impossible to miss the headlines on climate protests and air pollution last week. In fact, the past 12 months have witnessed an unprecedented number of headlines related to the environment.

There is absolutely no doubt, in that, issues related to climate and sustainability are firmly top of the agenda and this will be the case for sometime to come.

Closely related to the debate on air pollution is road transportation, the largest contributor to air pollution. Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, in particular, diesel cars, are the worst offenders in relation to air pollution.

The ‘dieselgate’ scandal was a significant turning point for consumer perception globally. In fact, post the dieselgate fiasco, sales of diesel cars in the U.K. have fallen of the cliff and the trend is not going to stop.

Electric Vehicles: A Real And Ready Solution For Tackling Air Pollution

Unsurprisingly, the winner of the loss in confidence in the diesel sector, has been the electric vehicle sector. This is clearly evident in the burgeoning sales of electric cars in 2018 and 2019.

The latest figures from the SMMT (September 2019) show an increase of over 235% in the sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) compared to the same period last year.

Consumers are fast realising that they too have the responsibility and capability to reduce air pollution and agree zero-emission electric driving is a robust panacea to this grave situation.

Also helping the uptake of EVs are the manufacturers. The automotive industry has been introducing electric cars at an unprecedented pace with improved battery range and performance.

Some examples of new all-electric models are below:

Apart from the emission-free benefit of EVs, other advantages include, lower noise levels, lower maintenance costs, instant torque and the convenience of charging at home i.e. no more stops to refuel the car.

I would also encourage all EV drivers to source green energy for charging your EV. There are a number of well established suppliers for green energy in the U.K. So do take advantage!

So, bottom-line, we all, including myself, are responsible for protecting our environment, not only for future generations, but also for generations today.

I encourage you to play your part and applaud those that have already migrated to zero-emission driving.