The future will be all-electric, but old internal combustion engine cars will be on the road for a long time to come, preserved beyond their typical 15-20 year lifespan. Swapping them for electric cars doesn’t make much sense.
The cars that accumulate years and kilometers met the standards that existed when they were manufactured, but these have become obsolete, being replaced by more demanding ones to protect the environment, public health and natural resources.
Consequently, traveling kilometers with them produces higher pollution, but the environmental cost of having manufactured them can be considered amortized. The damage has already been done and there is no going back.. In addition, we do not usually talk about cars that are used a lot.
A study carried out in the United Kingdom by Footman James, an insurance specialist, has compared the emissions produced by a classic model with how much it costs to replace it, either with batteries or with more modern technology.
According to the study’s figures, it definitely doesn’t make much sense to replace a low-mileage vintage car with one that, without moving a thing, has produced emissions to complete its manufacture from raw materials to a complete car.
Taking your figures for granted, the typical classic in the UK moves about 2,000 kilometers per year, which produces emissions of more than half a ton of CO2. These emissions are easily exceeded by current models -with a combustion engine- that travel typical distances of 10,000 to 20,000 km per year.
These figures are not far from the radiography of the classic car and its owners in our country that the FEVA carried out and that we reproduced in Motor.es. In the case of Spain it is even less, 1,000 kilometers for those who have been on the roads for more than 30 years. To pollute, they pollute little in absolute termsin relative terms there is little discussion.
Historical and collectible vehicles exhibited in Retromóvil (2021)
Continuing with the figures provided by Footman James, manufacturing a Volkswagen Golf produces 6.8 tons of carbon, equivalent to driving more than 12 years with the classic. In practice it will be somewhat less, since spare parts and oil will also have associated emissions.
But What happens if we consider replacing a historic car with a fully electric one? They give the Polestar 2 as an example, which implies the emission of 26 tons of CO2. In other words, considering 0 g/km in the electric one, the environmental amortization comes in almost half a century, 46 years.
The study questions the technical capacity of the batteries to function properly at 46 years, so compensating would be difficult… if the mileage is the same. If the Polestar 2 were used much more, the math would change. And they will change as construction processes are achieved that are neutralas well as the associated supply chain.
An electric car like the Polestar 2 produces a lot of emissions when it is manufactured, which are compensated throughout its useful life, but not with low annual mileage
More swampy terrain is that of the classic to electric conversions, either due to permanent or non-repairable failure of its original parts, or because you want to drive a classic but with the advantages of modern cars. It will be necessary to take into account the emissions associated with the powertrain and batteries before the first kilometer.
Of course the accounts are usually favorable towards historic and classic cars, as long as they are not used intensively (an unrepresentative minority of users say they do), and that it is a very different thing to change a car of habitual use for another electric one of habitual use.
If it is a question of making an intelligent and controlled reduction of emissions, vintage cars can be preserved without being a threat to the environment (if things are done well), even in an era in which everything is already electric and gasoline is a luxury consumption, like going to an expensive restaurant. You can eat every day from the supermarket and treat yourself from time to time, according to pockets.
Font: Footman James