Sales and the demand for all-electric vehicles (battery electric vehicles, BEVs) have increased significantly, especially since the coronavirus pandemic. While the share of new BEV registrations in Switzerland was 8.3% in 2020, it increased to 13.8% in 2021. What's more, the marked increase in prices for fossil fuels is likely to further boost demand for electric cars.
The trend towards electric vehicles will continue, partly because politics and society are striving to decarbonise the global economy. Conventional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), which still accounted for around 93% of global passenger car sales in 2021, emit lifecycle emissions of 42 tonnes of CO2 equivalents according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In comparison, BEVs emit about half as many tonnes of CO2 equivalents. The graph below shows a global average value for the carbon intensity of the power grid. If electricity is obtained from sustainable sources for refuelling, the lifecycle emissions of BEVs are further reduced.