Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2019) 134: 599
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2019-13020-6

Regular Article

Decarbonizing mobility: Thoughts on an unresolved challenge

¹ Peter-Grünberg-Institut, PGI 9, Forschungszentrum, Jülich, Germany
² Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität und CESifo, Munich, Germany

^* e-mail: c.buchal@fz-juelich.de

Received: 1 July 2019
Accepted: 24 September 2019
Published online: 4 December 2019

Abstract

Mobility and freight transportation are of worldwide importance. Presently they rely almost exclusively on fossil fuels. The 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Protection calls for a drastic reduction of the associated CO₂ emissions. As a prime choice for emission reduction of cars, presently battery-powered electrical vehicles (BEV) are widely favored. By law, the European Union uniformly classified all BEV as zero-CO₂-emission vehicles, completely ignoring the source of the electrical energy and the very significant emissions due to battery fabrication. In order to expose this misleading regulation, we take a closer look at the CO₂ footprint of a sedan BEV, if charged from the German grid, and compare this BEV to a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE), running on Diesel fuel. If a large BEV is equipped with a heavy, long-range battery and if this BEV is charged from the German grid, we find no CO₂ reduction for a run of 200 000km, if compared to a modern Diesel engine. We offer some thoughts on a more detailed and proper analysis of future mobility concepts, the respective pros and cons, and on some of the alternative developments.