Why EVs?

Upwards of 25% of all emissions worldwide come from road transport, with the majority coming from personal transport. The implications of this are not just environmental – although they are leading to the destruction of the climate.

More than 500,000 early deaths in the EU are directly attributable to vehicle emissions each year. This causes a huge emotional and economic toll on all of us, and is wholly avoidable if we make the switch to electric vehicles.

Cutting costs, cutting emissions

Electric vehicles are, in essence, the same as the cars that we all drive – they are just powered by electricity rather than oil. Except that they also offer the potential to be powered by wholly renewable energy and they do not create any emissions once they have been created.

Even an electric vehicle powered by a coal fire grid is significantly cleaner than a petrol or diesel car and, once the average EV has travelled more than 50,000 km in its lifetime, it will have already offset all the emissions created during its production. Electric cars allow us to continue our current way of life, with the freedom of movement and privacy, but allow us to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint, improve air quality, and avert the growing climate crisis.

They are, also, cheaper to run than petrol or diesel vehicles – even when plugged into the grid. And when they are charged from renewable energy they are essentially being run without any cost to you or the environment.

Ultimately, we need to head towards a society where public transport and pedestrianisation are prioritised over personal transit. However, car ownership is a difficult genie to put back in the bottle – and until we have designed our cities and our transport networks to better cater for our requirements, it is best to take practical steps to reduce our emissions in the meantime. This is particularly important in Ireland due to our rural nature.

In short, electric cars can keep Ireland green.