Assessing The Role Of Environmental Law In Driving The Shift Towards Electric Vehicle To Mitigate

Assessing The Role Of Environmental Law In Driving The Shift Towards Electric Vehicle To Mitigate Pollution

Suryansh Vardhan, B.A. LL.B., School of Law, IMS Unison University

ABSTRACT

Environmental pollution is now a global problem. Toxic gas emissions from internal combustion engines are one of the major air pollutants. Electric vehicles (EVs) are being actively promoted around the world to reduce the impact of emissions from fossil fuels and address environmental issues (EC). Various governments are encouraging people to switch to electric vehicles by offering migration incentives. The Indian government has called for “only electric vehicles” to be on public roads by 2030. Electromobility is being investigated as a possible solution to reduce environmental pollution in the transport sector. However, there is much debate among scientists and practitioners about how well electric vehicles outperform internal combustion engine vehicles in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, especially the variables that influence this performance. To our knowledge, most research on this topic mainly focuses only on specific stages of the vehicle life cycle, such as: Manufacture and Use of Vehicles. Comprehensive assessments of greenhouse gas emissions over a vehicle& life cycle are rarely done. This paper therefore aims to develop a comprehensive assessment framework for assessing the environmental impacts associated with electric vehicles. A valuation framework is then employed to estimate the environmental impacts associated with electric vehicles. The results show that in all analysed scenarios, electric vehicles have lower CO2 emissions over their lifecycle than comparable vehicles with combustion engines. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the significant impact on vehicle CO2 emissions associated with the geographic location of the upper stages of the vehicle supply chain (mainly electric vehicles). The main impact of the use phase on his CO2 emissions of EVs, then vehicle and battery manufacturing. Both evidences support the impact of the energy mix on the environmental performance of electric vehicles, which is further confirmed by sensitivity analyses. This paper contributes to the existing literature by confirming the superior environmental performance of electric vehicles compared to internal combustion engine vehicles in terms of life cycle CO2 emissions, and as a means of addressing environmental issues. It provides policy makers with useful suggestions for promoting electric vehicles.

Keywords: Environment, Electric vehicles, Pollution, Greenhouse Gas emissions, Combustion engines.