This is impossible, surely? Or do they only care about the running of the car, and not it's manufacturing? If so, that's just incredibly dumb. The CO2 required to manufacture EVs is significantly higher than ICE (like 40-60% higher)[0]. Unless manufacturing moves away from fossil fuels, first, this will massively accelerate the amount of CO2 we release, and we won't see any reduction for a decade or more (partly depends on the lifecycle of the batteries). And you won't see a NET reduction for many decades, due to the front-loading of the CO2 premium in manufacturing EVs Vs ICE.
This is crazy.
We cannot consume our way to a fossil fuel free world. We need to invent and build clean energy sources, and low carbon manufacturing.
Yes, BEVs have higher manufacturing emissions but study after study finds lifetime emissions are substantially lower. This holds even on coal heavy electric grids, it just takes longer. For instance this article talks about a study that found it takes 1.5 years in the US for a BEV to "pay off" its higher manufacturing emissions vs 6 years in China because of its dirtier manufacturing and electricity.
Of course these studies are looking at averages. If you drive a 10 year old Honda Civic and only go 500 miles a year, you aren't going to be saving the environment by buying an electric Hummer.
This is crazy.
We cannot consume our way to a fossil fuel free world. We need to invent and build clean energy sources, and low carbon manufacturing.
[0] "The emissions from Materials production and refining of the ICE are roughly 40 per cent less than for the BEV" https://www.volvocars.com/images/v/-/media/project/contentpl...