While EVs may be considerably better for the planet over their full lifespan, clearly they do still have a significant environmental impact. Therefore widespread personal vehicle ownership needs to be positioned within a ‘sustainable transport hierarchy’.
We all have choices on where and how we travel, and for shorter journeys active travel such as walking and cycling is by far the greenest option (as well as providing benefits of healthy exercise!).
Where this may not be realistic, public transport such as the bus and train networks are our next best option environmentally.
Nonetheless in reality the car has obviously become central to our lifestyles over the past century, and particularly in a rural county like Cumbria there can often be little practical alternative.
Where we do still need to use a car, various forms of car sharing or members’ car club schemes can be a way of making most effective use of each vehicle, given that most cars generally sit idle for at least 90% of the time. This could help reduce the number of vehicles which need to be manufactured, and that then eventually have to be scrapped afterwards!