What Zero Emissions Day means to me

International days, give me a chance to reflect and challenge group thinking. On world environment day most people will think about (and possibly post about) the natural world and how they connect with it and there is nothing wrong with this point of view, far from it.

However, in taking a step back, how can we shift the consciousness of the 8 billion people towards respecting the environment, yet also living the life they want to lead?

For this zero emissions day, I have chosen to laser focus on cars not only because I have grown up loving them but also because of what they represent. For ?some people it is simply a means of transport, a lifeline to get to work. For some it is a representation of a coming of age or the independence stage in their lives. For others, it might be their passion or a status symbol. As a car enthusiast as well as someone who is passionate about sustainability, I am intrigued by how the automotive industry is responding to climate change and what we, as a society, are prepared to accept.

There are approximately 1.5 billion cars on the roads today with an estimated 16.5 million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road as of 2020. Governments around the world have mandated the transition to EVs. For example, in the UK the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles will cease from 2035 (revised government target from 2030, announced on the 20/9/23).

As the search for alternative power sources continues there is rarely a day that goes by without an article or a YouTube video emerging on the (traditional) internal combustion engine (ICE) vs electric vehicles. Point in case, world famous comedian @Rowan Atkinson, recently put pen to paper on this very subject for the Guardian.

Range anxiety – what’s the big deal?

Part of my job as Head of Sustainability is talking with people around the world about how to reduce their personal (and professional) impact on the environment. This includes whether they would consider an EV. All too frequently I am given range anxiety as justification for their reluctance to make the switch to an EV. However, what is also apparent when scratching the surface is very few have actually tested to see if an EV will suit their lifestyle.

So what is range anxiety? According to the National Grid , range anxiety is the fear that an electric vehicle will not have enough battery charge to reach its destination, leaving its occupants stranded.

EV technology is rapidly advancing,?Rimac Nevera?is one of the world's fastest EV production cars. According to former Formula One World Champion?Nico Rosberg?its “top speed of 412kph (258mph) (which is basically traveling at a third of the speed of sound!) is super impressive, but what's also great is that the Nevera can run for 340 miles (547km) on a single charge!” At 340 miles on a single charge, that doesn’t sound like you will get stranded on a day to day. However, the technology to create an ultra high performance electric car with real world range over 300 miles comes with a $2.2 million price tag.

To help find out if range anxiety was actually a thing an average person should be worried about, late last year, I hired a small electric vehicle to find out. (picture above). I had the car over a number of days and for two real-life scenario tests. The first test was whether the car was good for the day-to-day around town and on the school run. The answer to this question is absolutely. The second scenario was a long-distance trip from Oxfordshire to the Eden Project in Cornwall. (I was going there for?Anthropy, a launch pad for building a better, more sustainable Britain.)

The round trip to Cornwall was circa 500 miles and while on paper, the car was more than capable, unfortunately en-route the rural charging infrastructure was lacking. Please let me clarify that the car I hired was for around town which meant it did not have the range of the long distance models, which would have done a one way trip in one charge. As a result, I had to plan where I could charge en-route and this planning gave me the ability to schedule a coffee break and a work call (whilst using a rapid EV charger).

Full credit to the car, it did what it said on the tin – a perfect car for the school run or around town but taking it out of those environments meant it immediately struggled. A massive hats off to the forward-thinking Sir Tim Smit and the team at the?Eden Project for providing dedicated EV carparks, allowing visitors to charge up each day despite the rural location.

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So what impact will electric vehicles have on jobs?

Combating climate change will require the rapid advancement of new technologies. This in turn will require new skills and new jobs to be created.? The international labor organization reports that 20 million (net) new jobs will be created by 2030.

So what will the electric vehicle impact be on jobs? The simple answer is a lot. In the UK alone we need to install 2.3 million electric charging points. This requires new green jobs to be created. We need researchers, developers, and manufacturers to design and build new cars. This requires traditional jobs to transition their skills to become a green job and we need to consider the impact on mechanics. Electric vehicles are different from ICE. They need significantly less maintenance, and when they do need a repair they need to be seen by a highly skilled technical engineer, not a mechanic. This means the need for a traditional mechanic will reduce over time as ICE vehicles becoming fewer in number.

Has the change in automobile technology been completed? I think not. There are considerable limitations with the electric vehicles currently in production. One issue is the fact EV’s don’t work for long-haul heavy goods vehicles, as the batteries required are simply too bulky and heavy. Therefore, considerable focus and indeed effort is being made in the field of hydrogen cells. For us that own collectors cars and traditional ICE cars, further effort is being made into synthetic fuels which are more environmentally friendly. The advancement of such technologies interests me greatly and will no doubt continue to do so going forward but it is only one part of the story…

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Human Rights – the hidden cost of EV batteries

Part of my journey to understand EVs and the rapid advancement of technology has been to learn about the industry and cars. I agree with Rowan Atkinson, who writes that the CO2 emissions associated with fuel is only part of the story. We must stand back and consider the wider implications of creating new vehicles at the speed at which we do. And to me, the environmental impact is only half of the story. What about the impact on people?

The raw materials that go into an EV battery currently come at a considerable cost to human life. Looking at cobalt in the Congo alone, an umbrella term would categorise it as a large scale human rights violation. Others may prefer to use such words as; child labour, slave labour, bribery and corruption and lack of health and safety equipment. For more information, I encourage you all to read?Cobalt Red?and?Volt Rush. Both books will feature highly on my books of the year list out late 2023.

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So would I buy an electric vehicle?

My answer is Yes! I absolutely would. However, I would not buy one today for the simple reason, that I do not need a new car and I would like to see improvements within the cobalt industry. For today, I am quite content using the principals of a circular economy, to reduce and re-use. My contribution to today’s zero emissions day will be not to use my car. Whilst I need to travel to work, I will do so using public transport and walk everywhere in between. Looking at my route planner I will clock up some 19kms in walking!