Clean up your commute

Cleaner urban transport can be a big part of halting climate change—and saving our lungs. Our climate podcast urban transport episode lays out a roadmap to climate-friendly mobility

We know that cleaner, electric urban transport will be a big improvement for our cities. But it’s not always clear how we get there. Our climate podcast urban transport episode lays out the benefits of cleaner mobility for the climate—and our health.

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In the climate podcast urban transport episode, you’ll find out:

· An electric vehicle isn’t only cleaner than an internal combustion vehicle, it’s also more efficient. Electric vehicles consume one-third of the energy of traditional cars.

· The number of electric cars is growing exponentially. In 2018, the number of electric vehicles on the road surged to 5.1 million, up 2 million from 2017. Most of those electric vehicles, 45%, were in China, with the European Union making up 24% and the United States 22%. Of course electric vehicles still represent only a small fraction of the more than 1 billion cars on the road.

· Europe has also made progress addressing the other part of the electric puzzle: the charging infrastructure. The number of charging stations in the European Union surged from a mere 3 800 in 2011 to more than 150 000 expected by the end of 2019. The rollout is being fuelled by projects like Enel X Mobility, which plans to install 14 000 charging stations in Italy by 2022. The European Investment Bank is supporting that project with a €115 million loan.

· Electric vehicles still face many challenges. For one, the cost of batteries has to come down for electric cars to be as affordable as conventional cars. Progress on this is encouraging. Electric car prices have fallen 85% from 2010 to 2018.

· In Europe, emissions from electricity production have fallen steadily, from over 500 grams of carbon per kilowatt hour in 1990 to less than 300 grams of carbon per kilowatt hour in 2016. That decline means that electric cars are responsible for less emissions per kilometre driven than conventional cars, throughout the European Union.

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