Here are 8 things to ask about your new electric car Consumers

The global outlook for electric vehicles is nothing but up. But how will you choose your own EV? The Total Environment Centre’s guide includes lifecycle carbon emissions.

The introduction of the Australian government’s fringe-benefit tax (FBT) exemption for EVs has helped sales reach numbers three times higher than last year, according to the latest report by the Electric Vehicle Council.

The report found that EVs must make up 50 per cent of all cars sold in 2030 for the nation to reach its climate target.

For that to happen, the Australian government must introduce an ambitious and globally competitive new vehicle efficiency standard that brings us into line with comparable overseas markets, like the US, Europe, and New Zealand.

But how can a consumer select the best option for EVs?

The Total Environment Centre’s latest update for its Green Electric Car Guide for cars retailing for under $100,000 has some key advice.

Each car was given a score out of 100 based on three key criteria:

While the TEC has given these other factors considerations, it has omitted lifecycle analysis (LCA), affordability and offsets from their scoring: for the following reasons:

The Tesla 3 RWD rated an impressive 40 out of 50 on lifecycle carbon emission, the highest of its kind on this list. It also does reasonably well in sustainable technology at 18 out of 25, with the lack of decarbonisation target, weak LCA and lack of supply chains in Tesla’s policies being the main factor bringing its score down.

Doing slightly worse than its counterpart, Model Y ranks 35 out of 50 on its lifecycle carbon emissions. The sustainable technology (18/25) and carmaker’s policy position (15/25) remains the same as the RWD.

While rating the same as Tesla Model Y in lifecycle carbon emissions (35/50), Volvo has a much better carmaker’s policy at 19.5 out of 25 thanks to its good decarbonisation targets and strong supply chain. They are unfortunately set back by using less sustainable technology (13/25), bringing down the total score of the EV.

This model’s lifecycle carbon emissions rates lower (25/50) compared to alternatives, you can find a similar use of sustainable technology in the Polestar as the Volvo (13/25). What’s truly impressive is Polestar’s 24 out of 25 rating on its policies committing to more sustainable cars with impressive full marks fuel efficiency standards, LCA, supply chain and commitment to producing no ICE cars. ­­

If you want to see how the other cars scored, you can do so from this table below:

With most human activities consuming natural resources and energy, the guide was created to:

The report noted that while individual ownership of resource-intensive manufactured products with limited lifespans, such as cars, is not usually compatible with the principles of a circular economy, we must accept that private vehicles will likely be around in various guises for many years to come.

The improvement of EVs will minimise negative impacts of their manufacture, use and disposal, minimise resource utilisation, and maximise their energy efficiency, it says.

While there are numerous complexities with picking out EVs, the TEC suggested a few “no-brainer” environmentally important questions to ask yourself when buying your next car:

Other environmental impacts of an EV usually depend on how you use it and whether or not you charge it from renewable energy or fossil fuels.

TEC recommends a homegrown rooftop solar, which is cheap, convenient and doesn’t need big infrastructure or investments to get to the car. Otherwise, if you can’t recharge overnight, options are to install a home battery to store the rooftop solar or buy grid energy that guarantees it is 100 per cent renewable.