The overall new car sales market has not been good in 2022, with the exception of SUVSUV who continued to progress. The rise in SUVs has indeed been constant for several years, and with it, that of emissionsemissions of greenhouse gasgreenhouse gas. In 2012, 20% of new cars purchased were SUVs, in 2022 they represent 46% of new cars.
All SUVs in the world pollute as much as England and Germany combined
SUVs are particularly fashionable in the United States, but also in countries that until recently preferred small cars: such as Europe and India, which are now the 2e et 3e largest SUV markets. In 2022, the 330 million SUVs present in the world emitted 1 billion tons of carbon dioxidecarbon dioxide according the international energy agency. This figure is the equivalent of that combining the total emissions of England and Germany combined. If SUVs were a country, this one would rank 6e biggest polluter in the world.
SUVs drive up fuel prices
CO emissions2 emissions from SUV vehicles therefore exceed those of most countries in the world! While almost everyone is well aware that the popularity of this type of vehicle has an impact on the global warmingglobal warming, few know, however, that the increase in SUV purchases also has an impact on fuel prices, due to the strong demand they generate. These vehicles are wider and heavier than the others, and therefore they consume 20% more fuel. This therefore leads to a strong demand for fuel and the growing number of SUVs is also responsible for a third of the increase in fuel demand according to the Agency.
Electric SUVs are progressing, but too slowly
However, it is still possible to buy a so-called “clean” SUV, that is to say electric. Of 400 electric car models offered last year, 55% were SUVs. However, only one in six SUVs sold in 2022 were electric. This proportion of SUVs running on electric is still increasing every year, specifies the International Agency forenergyenergybut not fast enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
SUVs also pose another environmental problem that many forget: they require larger batteries, and therefore more mineralsminerals (lithiumlithium, cobaltcobalt, nickelnickel) from extraction in natural soils.
SUVs are the second source of growth in CO2 emissions
Futura article with AFP-relaxnews, published on October 17, 2019
The International Energy Agency draws the doorbelldoorbell warning about the disastrous environmental impact of SUVs in terms of CO emissions2 which have skyrocketed over the past decade. More than 200 million SUVs are in circulation today, compared to 35 million in 2010.
Fashionable, but polluting: SUVs, booming in cities, threaten to destroy the sector’s attempts automobileautomobile to reduce its CO emissions2warned on Wednesday theInternational Energy Agency (OUCH). Ever more numerous, these cars with the look of 4×44×4but without their crossing capacities, were the second source of increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the world between 2010 and 2018, according to the director of the IEA.
“Certainly, car manufacturers put a lot ofargentargent in electric cars, but the same are also bringing more and more models of SUVunderlined Fatih Birol in Paris, during an international conference on the electrification of energy. Yes, electric cars are going strong, there are about 6 million in the world (…). But is this synonymous with decarbonization? Absolutely not,” he insisted. noting that half are driven “in a country, in Asia, China, where two-thirds of the electricity is produced by power stations coalcoal. Electric cars are not a panacea, the prerequisite must be a decarbonization of the energy system”he pleaded.
SUVs are more difficult to convert to electric
Besides, “In fact, the star of the automotive industry is not the electric car, it’s the SUV: in 2010, 18% of car sales worldwide were for SUVs; in 2018, it was more than 40%! As a result, over the past decade, SUVs have been the second largest source of CO2 emissions growth.2 »after the energy sector, but before heavy industry (steelsteel, cementcement…), trucks or aviation. More than 200 million SUVs are in circulation today in the world, against 35 million in 2010, a trend that can be found everywhere, notes the IEA in a note published on Tuesday.
Often heavier and less aerodynamic, these ubiquitous vehicles in manufacturers’ ranges consume a quarter more energy than a mid-size car, the report points out. As a result, they are the only source of the increased demand for oiloil coming from the automotive industry between 2010 and 2018, which far exceeded the progress in terms of efficiency made on smaller cars and the fuel savings made possible by electric ones.
“If consumer appetite for SUVs continued to grow at the pace of the past decade, these cars would add nearly 2 million barrels per day to global oil demand by 2040, offsetting the savings of 150 million electric cars “, warns the report. He also points out that “bigger, heavier cars like SUVs are more difficult to electrify”. In the EU, after years of decline, CO emissions2 new cars thus grew in 2018 for the second year in a row, according to the European Environment Agency, which identifies the rise of SUVs as one of the “main factors”.
The weight of SUVs at the center of a showdown
The manufacturers are however under pressionpression in many countries to reduce their emissions, which forces them to turn to electrification and to improve the efficiency of motors with combustioncombustion : in the EU, new limits will come into force in 2020, with an obligation for new cars to display average CO emissions2 less than 95 grams per kilometer. However, under pressure from the German automobile lobby, this figure of 95 grams will be adjusted according to the massemasse vehicles: large cars will be able to emit a little more.
In France the question is a subject of battle via the definition of the bonus/penalty on purchase: should the weight of the vehicles be taken into account or not, as certain deputies wish? For environmental NGOs, SUVs have become a new foil. In September, 15,000 to 25,000 demonstrators disrupted the Frankfurt auto show to demand means for public transport and denounce SUVs, these “urban assault tanks”. In Germany, where voices have been raised for their ban in the city center for a accidentaccident deadly incident in Berlin, a freighter carrying a load was targeted by Greenpeace, under the banner “killer of climateclimate on board “.