Source:
"Summary
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) do not represent a significant improvement over internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) in terms of their carbon dioxide footprint unless all the energy for their manufacture and use is CO
-free.
That is not likely to happen in the next ten years.
A large investment in infrastructure is needed to enable wide deployment of BEVs and possibly continuing incentives to encourage people to buy them.
Also, a large increase in BEV numbers will bring other problems, such as the impacts on human health of mining for the minerals, although these take place far away and are often ignored.
Even with a hundred-fold increase in BEV numbers to 10 million by 2030, over 85% of transport in the UK will still run on internal combustion engines. There is, however, great scope for improving ICEVs in terms of their efficiency and emissions impact. This will require no new infrastructure, but will require sustained research effort.
Even if the government want to promote BEVs, banning the sale of new ICEVs will effectively stop R&D in this area well before such a ban comes into force, thus removing the easiest way to bring about big improvements in the environmental impact of transport.
A ban would also have a serious impact on employment in a critical sector of UK industry. All available technologies, including BEVs, ICEVs and novel fuels, where they make sense, need to be deployed to mitigate the impact of transport."