Understanding Your Vehicle's True Environmental Impact

As most of our users know by now, we’re focused on investigating what transitioning to net zero for our vehicles entails. A key part of this journey is understanding your current carbon footprint. We’re not here to push you toward any specific type of vehicle—whether it's EVs, hybrids, or traditional ICE vehicles. Instead, we aim to provide detailed insights that help you make the best choices for your circumstances.

Introducing Our New Carbon Footprint Tool

We’ve previously teased something big, and now it’s here! We're thrilled to introduce ‘BlueSkies,’ our groundbreaking free tool that measures your vehicle's entire carbon footprint with unprecedented detail.

By understanding the full environmental impact of different vehicles, from manufacturing to end-of-life, our tool demystifies the emissions landscape. It presents clear, factual data, allowing you to see how various car types compare in terms of their carbon footprint.

The concept originated from a spirited debate within our KnowYourCar team.

The Spark of Debate

The idea for BlueSkies was born from a lively debate within our KnowYourCar team. I argued that maintaining my old cherished 911, considering the carbon costs already invested in its manufacturing, might be more environmentally friendly than the production of a new electric vehicle (EV). My colleagues challenged this, accusing me of using 'man-maths' to justify keeping my beloved gas guzzler!

While existing studies offered broad insights, they fell short of addressing individual circumstances. Motivated by our debate, we plunged into scientific research and dissected numerous studies to extract key calculations. We also didn't just pay lip service to this data. We really invested a lot of time in understanding what all these scientific studies were actually saying in the detail. These were then merged with our extensive vehicle data to create an interactive tool that accurately evaluates any production vehicle's environmental impact across its entire lifecycle—considering not just usage but also manufacturing and maintenance.

Three Key Elements of Our Tool:

1. Manufacturing Costs: As well as the main drive train components, we also calculate the environmental toll of extracting and processing materials like lithium needed for battery production.
   
2. Usage Costs: For fossil fuel vehicles, we assess the 'well-to-wheel' emissions, and for EVs, we account for the CO2 costs associated with charging from the grid.
3. Maintenance Costs: We consider everything required to keep the vehicle running—from tyres and oil changes to routine maintenance.

The idea was to provide a fully independent and holistic view of a vehicle's environmental impact, thus helping you to make informed decisions about your current and future vehicle choices, tailored to your specific circumstances.

A Closer Look: Comparing a Highly Efficient ICE Car to an EV

Let's examine a real-world comparison between a highly efficient internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle and an efficient electric vehicle (EV):

A 2016 VW Polo 1.4 Diesel

A 2020 Tesla Model 3 Long Range

The comparison shows that while the EV is indeed more efficient, the difference isn't as stark as one might expect. However, the results for my own vehicle were more definitive, albeit not surprising. Comparing my cherished 911, which I don't own for its efficiency, to these EV models isn't realistic. Yet, it's important for me to acknowledge (in print as punishment from my colleagues) that yes, I was wrong about its environmental impact.

A 2004 Porsche 911

A 2020 Tesla Model 3 Long Range

And yes, to reiterate, our calculations comprehensively account for the environmental impact of extracting raw materials for the Tesla's battery. Moreover, I've specifically chosen to simulate charging the car using grid electricity from Oxford, known for having one of the highest CO2 levels in the UK. This also includes an innovative feature of our tool called '2nd Life.' Since my Porsche is older, this feature considers that its construction-related CO2 emissions have already been accounted for. Therefore, it only factors in the CO2 costs associated with extended maintenance (yes, I really did try to make my man-maths work!)

But again, to be fair this comparison is not particularly relevant in the real world. A Tesla is a completely different thing to my 911, and I have other ways of mitigating my CO2 impact for my Porsche which we'll go into in another article.

A Surprising Insight on PHEVs

There were some other very surprising results too. Further analysis highlighted that plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) might be the least environmentally friendly option. They are often undercharged and over-reliant on their combustion engines, making them inefficient despite their green pretensions.

In our research it's been found that company car owners of PHEV vehicles only charge the car 11% of the time. So our tool allows you to enter this info and when you do, take a look at this result:

2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

So driving a Plug-in hybrid for 6000 miles a year and only charging it 11% of the time means it's almost as bad as a gas guzzling Porsche 911!

Explore and Personalise

We encourage you to explore the environmental footprint of your vehicle with this new tool. You can find it in the 'owners' mode on your vehicle detail screen in the app.  Start with our average-based estimates and customize them to match your specific driving habits and conditions.

Also, take a look at our comprehensive league table of vehicle emissions to see which models are performing better or worse than expected: Rankings.

We're keen to stress. This tool is not to bang the drum for any type of vehicle option. It's purely there to give you the information to inform your own choices depending on your circumstances. Some people legitimately don't want to ever have an EV. There are other options.

Your Feedback Matters

Please do share your thoughts with us. We've invested considerable effort in developing this tool and are committed to refining it based on your feedback. Your input will guide the future enhancements and direction of this tool.

For those interested in the finer details of our approach, and see which studies we used to create our calculations you can explore our methodology here.

Adapting Without Swapping: Innovative Ways to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint

Next month, we’ll explore practical strategies for reducing our environmental impact. Let’s face it, most of us aren’t in a position to switch to a lower-carbon vehicle immediately. Moreover, even for those who can afford it, the options aren’t always right. For instance, without off-street parking, owning an electric vehicle can be a real challenge due to charging difficulties.

In light of these obstacles, we've found innovative actions that can be taken to lessen our environmental footprint without the immediate need to change our vehicles. We’ve been exploring a range of ingenious and sometimes unexpected measures that can mitigate the impact of our carbon emissions. Stay tuned for actionable insights and creative tips in our next update.