Society | Consumer Action | EV Transition

Clean car, dirty fuel: the looming EV conundrum

How EV adoption will transform electricity generation

Published May 2023 | Revised Nov 2023

As the widespread adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) gathers pace, the seeming enthusiasm of governments to pile-on tax incentives and the sheer exuberance of market leaders such as Tesla will collide head-on with the cautionary notes of late movers such as Toyota and the negative vibes from people that think EVs are just as bad for the planet.

This collision is inevitable because of the gaping disconnect between the current push for EVs and the enormous underinvestment in carbon-friendly electricity generation. The clean car, dirty fuel conundrum will continue for many years to come. Some consumers are using this as a reason not to jump-in on the EV bandwagon. Some politicians see it as a reason to push against environmentally focused policies. Environmentalists remain alarmed at our indecision and lurch towards climate disaster.

What will you do?

Here’s where we are today and two ways your action today will shape our energy future on this matter.

Status quo: most electricity still come from dirty fuels

As we push for more EV adoption, over 61% of our electricity generation still come from high carbon emissions fossil fuel sources. In fact, 81% of our total energy including those used in the mining and refining of EV battery metals still come from fossil fuels. Replacing these supplies will not happen overnight, not least because we haven’t even agreed on a replacement that we all consider suitable.

Nuclear is carbon-friendly, but concerns over its safety and the handling of nuclear waste are among the public-facing issues holding its widespread adoption back. Then there are the national and international security issues to contend with. And those are before layering the cost, construction time and technological challenges. Nuclear clearly has a long way to go before it becomes part of the solution.

Renewables are great, but what critics point out about them are a genuine Achilles heels - they really don’t like working all the time. Photovoltaics don’t work nights; wind turbines only do windy days in the countryside. They are really different from many of the machines we have built, which generally do as they are told!

Geothermal and Hydro are cut from the same cloth. Geothermals only work in Icelandic-type countries with a very thin earth crust that allows easy access to the heat below the surface. Hydro likes water and will not lift a finger unless it is fed by a Nile or Yangtze-type river.

Fossil fuels are less fussy, but they are damaging our environment and risking our future. Although Natural gas is not as bad as its brethren coal and oil, they all generate carbon emissions at levels our ecosystems cannot sustain.

And as for nuclear, where do you want to start? Chernobyl, Fukushima, nuclear waste, nuclear proliferation, national security, rogue states, terrorism, espionage? This otherwise wonderful source of low-carbon electricity is beset by so many layers of concerns that it is difficult to see how it can form part of our energy future.

This is where we are today. A crossroad. Our current electricity generation processes are not sustainable. The sustainable options before us are either not ready or come with their own problems. The accelerating adoption of EVs will force us to review our electricity generation processes. The outcome of that review will either help the planet and our future or harm it. Choose carefully.

Outcome 1: Do little and EVs simply replace petrol/diesel vehicles

If you, the consumer gets complacent on pushing for meaningful changes to our energy options, EVs will simply replace Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles with minimal gain for the environment. We would have replaced our consumption vehicle but retained the dirty fuel. Except that it is worse this time as the EV lulls us into a sense that we are doing the right thing.

Whilst the use of EVs with electricity generated from fossil fuels will still be a win compared to the continued use of ICE vehicles, it will be a missed opportunity. Petrol-powered propulsion probably always had a terminal date, but using its demise to transform our energy future is an opportunity too good to miss.

Cars are very personal to most people and very few products can serve as vehicle for social and environmental change as they can. A bit like our homes and phones, we love our cars and even though they depreciate unlike our homes, the freedom they give us is priceless.

We will therefore continue to buy cars irrespective of the fuels they use. By failing to act decisively in favour of the environment, however, we miss the opportunity of using our cars as a vehicle for environmental change. We will become accustomed to putting dirty fuel in our clean cars, and the jarring feeling we get from that will dissipate with time.

Outcome 2: Step-up and our electricity generation is transformed

If you, the consumer take decisive steps in pushing for low-carbon electricity, both governments and the electricity generation industry will make the investments that are necessary for that transition. Remember, when it comes to creating change on environmental issues, the consumer is king .

By pressing our elected representatives at all levels, we will start seeing investments in low-carbon electricity generation. Although the announcement of new investments is only an early step in the long road to getting the first sustainable watts of energy into our cars, it is an important step, nonetheless. It signals to the industry that we, the people, through our governments want to see that transition to low-carbon electricity generation. And corporations, driven by their need for profit and growth, will respond.

As the timeline between the announcement of new investments in low-carbon electricity generation and getting those first sustainable watts is measured in years, consumers can take intermediate steps to plug the gap until those new generation sources come online. The use of rooftop solar can provide that intermediate step.

Whilst not every consumer can opt for generating their own electricity from rooftop solar, many that can are still not doing it. The cost, location, and other technical limitations involved are all assessable and mostly surmountable.

By installing rooftop solar, you get to generate your own low-carbon electricity. You also signal to the government that this is what voters want, and they should be taking policy steps such as tax incentives and regulatory support to drive rooftop solar adoption.

The building industry will take note and start installing these as standards in sunny locations where they are efficient. The power generation industry will note the changes in consumer preference and accelerate their transition to low carbon energy to stay in business.

Rooftop solar panels are not without their own problems. Rest assured that these ethical and environmental concerns will not all slip pass the army of organisations out there that monitor and report on these challenges. When you choose to install rooftop solar, you should reference sources with expertise on those ethical and environmental challenges. These challenges are not themselves sufficient to ignore rooftop solar as an option for sourcing low carbon electricity.

So, by joining the EV adoption drive and then pushing for changes to our energy generation, we can attack two of the largest contributors to carbon emissions – electricity/heat generation and transport.

What you can do today

Don’t put off your purchase of an EV because of concerns about their environmental friendliness. They are indeed better for the environment .

For those who already have an EV, consider using charging stations that use low-carbon electricity. Increased demand at these stations will signal our preference to the charging station providers.

Check and consider switching your electricity supply to a low-carbon option. If we all start doing it, the corporations will get it and start making the change we want.

Consider contacting your elected representatives and starting conversations about where your electricity currently comes from and how you’d like that to change to a low-carbon source. They have a duty to listen if they want to continue relying on our votes.

Rethink your opposition to nuclear energy (if you have one) as it is a major, low-carbon electricity generation source.

Consider getting rooftop solar to start generating your own electricity.