The Worldwide Power Company says ever larger automobiles pose a rising downside for the setting as a result of they produce extra greenhouse gasoline emissions and wish bigger batteries than their smaller cousins
ByThe Related Press
February 27, 2023, 9:33 AM
BERLIN — Ever larger automobiles pose a rising downside for the setting as a result of they produce extra greenhouse gasoline emissions and wish bigger batteries than their smaller cousins, in accordance with the Worldwide Power Company.
The Paris-based physique advised Monday that it’s time for the automobile trade to downsize its autos, citing information that confirmed the world’s 330 million sports activities utility autos, or SUVs, pumped out virtually 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2022.
That’s greater than the annual emissions of an industrial nation like Germany.
“The shift in the direction of heavier and fewer fuel-efficient standard autos will increase progress in each oil demand and CO2 emissions,” the company mentioned, noting that SUVs devour a few fifth extra gasoline than a median medium-sized automobile.
“Between 2021 and 2022, oil use in standard automobiles, excluding SUVs, remained roughly the identical, however the oil consumption of SUVs globally elevated by 500,000 barrels per day, accounting for one-third of the whole progress in oil demand,” it mentioned.
And whereas standard car gross sales slowed barely in 2022, by about 1 million SUVs and 1 million smaller automobiles, gross sales of electrical autos virtually doubled to a document of greater than 10 million. For the primary time, electrical SUVs outpaced electrical non-SUVs, at 5.5 million in comparison with 5.3 million.
Electrical SUVs require bigger batteries than smaller automobiles, the company famous.
“A rising electrical SUV market would impose extra stress on battery provide chains and additional enhance demand for the important minerals wanted to make the batteries,” it mentioned.
The IEA urged policymakers and producers to deal with the difficulty and advised three attainable actions: “Downsizing of the common automobile measurement; growing battery swapping; and investing in progressive battery applied sciences.”