Research shows that EV owners have a larger ecological footprint than average because they are wealthier

A pair of psychologists and an economist at the University of Turku, in Finland, have found that because the average electric vehicle (EV) owner is wealthier than the average person, they still have a larger-than-average carbon footprint.

For their article published in the open access journal PLOS climateNils Sandman, Elisa Sahari and Aki Koponen analyzed questionnaires sent to thousands of random adults in Finland about lifestyle choices, car use, opinions about the environment and how they felt about electric vehicles.

As global warming, exacerbated by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, continues, makers of some goods have begun to modify their products in ways that reduce emissions. One such product is the car.

The vast majority of cars and trucks on the road today are still powered by burning gasoline – a primary source of greenhouse gas emissions. In response, automakers have developed and sold electric vehicles, which emit no greenhouse gases while driving.

In this new study, the research team examined whether consumers who purchase and drive such vehicles have a smaller carbon footprint than other consumers who continue to drive gasoline-powered vehicles.

To find out more, the researchers obtained data from the CLIMATE NUDGE survey, a questionnaire that other researchers sent to thousands of people across Finland in 2022, asking about their lifestyle choices. The team analyzed 3,857 of the returned refugees.

The researchers discovered that people who buy electric vehicles tend to be wealthier than average. They are also better educated and drive more kilometers per year on average. The researchers also found that despite buying and driving an electric car, the average electric car buyer still had a larger carbon footprint than people who did not buy such vehicles.

This is, the researchers note, because richer people tend to have a larger carbon footprint: they use more electricity, which is usually produced in a coal-fired power plant, they consume more goods, the production of which tends to release greenhouse gases , and they drive more and travel more.

Ultimately, the researchers found that using an electric car could not overcome the overall carbon footprint.

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