Now, that’s a good one.
The original article from Republik: Amtliche Selbstzensur – Republik
Original report in German: https://cdn.repub.ch/s3/republik-assets/repos/republik/article-behoerdliche-selbstzensur/files/065a622d-1ce5-481c-b4c4-9727d01f2329/ech_schlussbericht_infras_stand-januar-2025_de.pdf
The method section of the report shows a few interesting things:
- It’s about the life cycle analysis of vehicles
- Only about greenhouse gases (mainly CO2)
- Nothing about how to recharge EVs
- A HUGE ASSUMPTION for both for ICEs and BEVs: 200,000 km is approximately the average life expectancy of new Swiss passenger cars (12,500 km per year for 16 years).
This study examines whether, from a climate perspective, it makes sense to replace existing combustion engines with new electric vehicles. A life cycle perspective is chosen to answer this question. This perspective attempts to quantify all relevant greenhouse gas emissions over the entire life cycle of both the current and the new vehicle. To calculate the emissions caused by a vehicle during its life cycle, the Paul Scherrer Institute’s Carculator methodology is used1, which is based on Sacchi et al. (2022). The publication by Sacchi et al. (2022) provides the original data sources on which this study is based.
The analysis focuses on greenhouse gas emissions as an indicator and does not consider other environmental indicators or costs.
A quick look at the report shows nothing suspicious, so quite hard to argue with the conclusions:
The results for Switzerland with average mileage are clear: From a climate perspective, it makes sense to replace existing combustion engines with electric vehicles of the same or a smaller vehicle class.
Anyone who has to drive a lot should definitely switch to an electric car, because greenhouse gas savings are greatest with a lifetime mileage of over 200,000 km.
Those who drive a lot of kilometers per year should switch to an electric car. Starting at approximately 8,000 km per year, the switch is almost always worthwhile, assuming an average vehicle lifespan of 16 years. However, for those who drive less than approximately 4,000-5,000 km per year, it is usually not worthwhile, especially if the vehicle is not expected to be used for longer than 16 years. Between 5,000 and 8,000 km, no clear statement can be made from a climate perspective, as the impact depends on the specific vehicle combination.
But, researchers felt in a dumb tramp: assuming Switzerland is a Ceteris paribus island. Yes, electricity in Switzerland is low CO2 intensive because a significant part is hydropower, nuclear and other renewable ones. But, if consumption increases electricity needs to be imported and the low carbon intensity may not be there. From this perspective, the study is quite academic, it would be a nice Master’s research work, not much more.
Electricity Mix
It is very important for the climate balance that electric cars are charged with clean electricity. Figure 11 shows a comparison between three cases in which the new electric car is charged over its entire lifetime either with renewable electricity, with average Swiss electricity (consumer mix), or with electricity from an average gas-fired power plant. The cleaner the electricity mix, the greater the climate benefits of switching to an electric car. In Switzerland, this is generally not a problem, as the Swiss electricity mix is associated with very low greenhouse gas emissions. If, in a hypothetical scenario, the electric car were charged exclusively with electricity from a gas-fired power plant, the climate benefits would be less pronounced. The efficiency of the existing combustion engine would play a greater role compared to that of the new electric car.
Electricity is a big issue.
Switzerland imports electricity in winter. Electricity imports have been a headache during the negotiations with the EU. France has asked for money to build new nuclear power plants to sell electricity to Switzerland.
Back to households, lots of people rent in Switzerland. The request from landlords to uninstall chargers when leaving a rental property kills the idea of installing a charger. Somewhere in the Republik article there’s a joke about “Let them eat cake”.
TL;DR: without low carbon electricity, our individual choices matter little.
