Transport and Environment (T&E) has developed a tool that compares CO2 emissions linked to the use of an electric, diesel or petrol car, and takes a holistic account of all possible criteria such as the amount of CO2 emitted when electricity is produced or fuel is burnt, as well as the carbon impact of resource extraction for batteries or of building a power plant.

The results show that electric cars in Europe emit, on average, almost a third of the CO2 of equivalent petrol/diesel cars, a significant improvement on some previous studies.

In the worst case scenario, an electric car with a battery produced in China and driven in Poland still emits 22 per cent less CO2 than diesel and 28 per cent less than petrol. And in the best case scenario, an electric car with a battery produced in Sweden and driven in Sweden can emit 80 per cent less CO2 than diesel and 81 per cent less than petrol.

T&E also predicts that electric cars will reduce CO2 emissions four-fold by 2030 thanks to an EU grid relying more and more on renewables.

Lucien Mathieu, Analyst at T&E, said: "This tool puts to rest the myth that driving an electric car in Europe can be worse for the climate than an equivalent diesel or petrol. It's simply not true. If European governments are serious about decarbonising during the crisis recovery, they must speed up the transition to electric vehicles."

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