Electric vehicle sustainability and efficiency research

Diogo Pinto, Policy Director, FIA: “The project was well-managed overall and I’m pleased with the outcome”

Challenge 

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Region 1 (which represents EMEA) sought to broaden its understanding of the sustainability and efficiency of electric passenger cars sold and operating in the EU across five key areas: lifecycle emissions, manufacturing processes, energy efficiency, battery life and transparency of consumer information. 

Approach 

The Ricardo team employed a tailored approach to review evidence from multiple sources (over 150) to suggest a list of evidence-based policy recommendations. Ricardo also collected sparsely available real-world data on energy efficiency and battery performance, provided by Green NCAP among others, and compared those against the company reported data to validate vehicle performance. 

Results

The final report will be used by FIA to inform future policies around accelerating the transition from fossil fuel powered cars to EVs. It’s findings, for example, confirmed that EVs could reduce lifecycle GHG emissions by up to 63% compared to ICE vehicles.

It also pointed to a growing body of evidence that environmental performance could be increased through reduced vehicle mass developed with circular strategies such as using more recycled materials. Improved availability of consumer information was also recommended. The final report included a comprehensive list of policy recommendations to complement Europe’s existing and future legislation around EVs. The report is publicly available on the company's website.