How do you buy a car that is as clean as possible?

2023-05-23 09:24:00

Is a small petrol car cleaner than a big electric box, and what about second-hand plug-in cars? In this Green Guide: this is how you buy a super sustainable car.

Maarten van Stel

From kettles to refrigerators and from televisions to computers: every device has an ecological footprint. Raw materials to make them must be extracted. Production and use require energy, which often releases greenhouse gases.

Of all the things that the Dutch buy, one stands out when it comes to the impact on the earth: the car. Not only for the wallet, but also for the environment and climate, it is the most important purchase most people make. If you really want to buy a sustainable car – and want to go a step further than ‘electric’ or ‘non-electric’ – what should you pay attention to?

Energy label gives a distorted picture

Just like refrigerators, cars in the showroom have energy labels, from a green A to a red G. But Harm Zeven of the ANWB explains that these are limited and sometimes give a distorted picture. Cars are compared to models in their own class. “So you can buy a very large car with an A, or a small one with a D, while the small one can still be a lot more sustainable.”

A better test for sustainable cars is the Green NCAP, funded by, among others, the Consumers’ Association and the European parent organization of the ANWB. Euro NCAP is the organization that started one of the best car safety tests in the world 25 years ago. Those tests led to competition between manufacturers and much safer cars. The organization wants to achieve something similar with sustainability.

The organization has now about 125 models have been extensively tested. With different driving styles and temperatures, she measures the actual amount of toxic substances released, the greenhouse gas emissions (in addition to CO2 also methane and nitrous oxide) and the energy efficiency, after which she arrives at a star rating. The conclusion is that electric cars score by far the best: they all get five stars, even if they are SUVs. An electric SUV is therefore almost always a cleaner option than a small petrol car. “But that doesn’t change the fact that small electric cars are significantly better than big ones,” says Aleksandar Damyanov of Green NCAP.

Too few small electric cars

The biggest disadvantage of the electric car market is that there are still few small and affordable electric cars for sale. Many manufacturers are betting on more expensive and larger SUVs because they make more profit. The most sustainable car from the Green NCAP test is now the Dacia Spring, for sale from 21,700 euros. Who gets a 9.9. In terms of small electric cars, Zeven has great expectations of the Volkswagen ID1 and ID2, which have yet to materialize. Volkswagen has promised that these models will cost less than 25,000 euros.

From a sustainability perspective, you also want to know how long a car will last. Is that Tesla as good as they say or will it collapse in five years? The differences between brands are still difficult to determine. Because electric cars are still driving around for a relatively short time, practice often has to show this. However, Zeven emphasizes that the lifespan of cars has been drastically extended in recent years. “Cars used to last seven years, now we are approaching twenty-one years.”

Damyanov also reckons that all new cars will be able to reach around 240,000 kilometres, an average of sixteen years of driving pleasure. “We sometimes get questions about whether electric car batteries last that long. They may start to wear out over time, but we have no indications that they will not reach their expected lifespan.”

Second hand?

Are you more sustainable with a second-hand electric car than with a new one? Considering that roughly half of the total impact of an electric car is in production, you could say that you save half of your footprint by buying a second-hand car. Information organization Milieu Centraal recommends buying electric cars from after 2010. In addition, it is good to see how large the range of the car is – older cars often come less far.

What if an electric car is too expensive, or you don’t want one for other reasons? According to Damyanov, some plug-in hybrids or traditional hybrids are also good options. “Plug-in hybrids have a bad reputation because people often buy them for tax benefits and don’t even take the plug cable out of the box.” Often they do not reach their electrical range on paper either. “But if the powertrain is well designed and you charge it often, you can drive it with a relatively low environmental impact.”

New petrol and diesel cars have also become increasingly economical and cleaner. Here too, the smaller the car, the less impact on the environment and climate. According to Milieu Centraal, if you go for second-hand, it is better not to buy a car from before 2005, because they are often too polluting.

Another option: don’t buy a car

All experts have one caveat to this search. “The most sustainable car is the one you don’t buy,” says Damyanov. A car – also a cute little electric bakkie – always puts a considerable burden on the earth. Mariken Stolk of Milieu Centraal advises people who do not yet have a car to think twice. “If you can travel by bicycle or public transport, it is much more sustainable.” She points out that once you have bought a car, you often become dependent quickly and it is difficult to do without it afterwards.

Stolk also has another option for those in doubt: partial transport. For example, around Utrecht you have the initiative We Drive Solar, where you can use a selection of shared cars for a fixed amount per month and per kilometer. “You also drive electrically, and it is often cheaper than buying a car yourself.”

Tesla drivers in Hungary save more greenhouse gas than in the Netherlands

Exactly how sustainable electric driving is also differs from country to country. If that electricity is generated with lignite, it will not get you very far. Green NCAP’s tests also factor local power mix into a model’s overall footprint. “Compared to the rest of the world, the power mix in the EU has a low greenhouse gas intensity,” says Damyanov. Good news for European electric drivers.

It is striking that the Netherlands scores below the European average. No greenhouse gases are released from forty percent of the electricity that motorists fill up there. That seems like a lot, but is little compared to, for example, Norway, where all power comes from hydropower, or Spain, with much more solar power. Tesla drivers also emit less in Hungary. About half of the electricity comes from nuclear power plants. No CO₂ is released during the production of electricity in nuclear power plants, but this does produce radioactive waste.

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