Do Electric Vehicles Reduce Emissions?

Are Hybrid Vehicles Better Than Electric Vehicles?

There’s a Perception:
“Hybrid vehicles are better suited to Indonesia’s situation, which is still dominated by fossil fuel infrastructure.”

However:
The use of hybrid vehicles will extend the life of fossil fuels in Indonesia, while Indonesia aims to achieve net zero by 2060 or sooner. Therefore, if there is a change in the fuel used, fossil fuels will no longer be used.

Explanation:

  1. To reduce Indonesia’s GHG emissions, the involvement of all sectors, including electricity, transportation, and industry, is required. Vehicle electrification is one strategy that can be implemented in the transportation sector.
  2. Of course, this must be accompanied by “cleaning up” the upstream sector, namely electricity generation, which is currently dominated by fossil fuel power plants.
  3. These two strategies (converting power plants to renewable energy and accelerating electric vehicle penetration) must be implemented simultaneously. If we wait for our electricity sources to become renewable energy-based before adopting electric vehicles, we will be too late to seize the opportunity to reduce GHG emissions from the transportation sector.
  4. Electric vehicle emissions are lower than those of fuel-based vehicles (assuming they are fueled by coal).
  5. Fuel-based vehicles emit 179.2 g CO2/km (IESR, 2023). With the same distance traveled, a hybrid electric vehicle using gasoline and coal as fuel emits approximately 76.8 g CO2/km.
  6. Meanwhile, electric vehicles (not hybrids) that are fueled by coal as the main power source emit emissions of 67.8 grCO2/km.

IESR Words

  • “Like it or not, there will be a shift in business from large players, and this will occur not only in the transportation sector but also in other sectors, such as renewable energy generation. There is another, cheaper and more impactful solution: using public transportation. Public transportation will be more impactful because it can accommodate more people and can also reduce congestion.”

    – Faris Adnan Padhilah, Energy Demand Management Research Coordinator, IESR

Description for

Children (14-18 years):

Ideally, efforts to reduce emissions in the transportation sector should be applied across all sectors, resulting in significant emissions reductions. In addition to the use of electric vehicles, electricity sources must also be cleaned up by switching to renewable energy sources.

While electricity still comes from coal, pollution from electric vehicles remains lower than from oil-fueled vehicles. However, pollution can be zero if electric vehicles use renewable energy.

Description for

Adults (19 years and over):

  1. Transportation decarbonization should be carried out comprehensively, from upstream to downstream. However, this doesn’t mean we should wait until one sector is decarbonized before moving on to another.
  2. The adoption of electric vehicles can be carried out in conjunction with efforts to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy in the grid.
  3. Electric vehicle adoption must also be accompanied by other efforts, such as adopting the ASI (Avoid-Shift-Innovate) principle in trip planning and promoting mode-shifting, which encourages people to switch to public transportation.