As part of the study, the CirculaTUM research consortium at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) examined the climate impact of cars over their entire lifecycle, from production and operation to end-of-life treatment. Drawing on 19 previously published studies covering 47 modelled scenarios, researchers found that battery-electric vehicles produce 41 per cent fewer CO₂ emissions on average than comparable internal combustion engines over their full lifecycle. Furthermore, EVs performed better in around 92 per cent of cases.
However, the results varied significantly between scenarios. Depending on factors including vehicle and battery production, electricity mix, and recycling, emissions can be 89 per cent lower or up to 21 per cent higher compared to a combustion engine vehicle.
The researchers argue that this variation highlights a weakness in the EU’s currently regulatory approach. CO₂ fleet limits are currently based on direct emissions during vehicle operation, meaning battery-electric vehicles are assigned a value of zero grams of CO₂ per kilometre. TUM contrasts this with the average 41 per cent reduction in lifecycle emissions. However, this does not mean that electric cars, in the researchers’ view, lack a climate advantage—this is present in the vast majority of the scenarios examined. The criticism is rather that the regulatory assessment does not reflect the full climate impact of a vehicle.
