News Environment Growing SUV and Pickup Sales Are Cancelling Out Emission Savings From Electric Cars By Lloyd Alter Design Editor University of Toronto Lloyd Alter is Design Editor for Treehugger and teaches Sustainable Design at Ryerson University in Toronto. our editorial process Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Lloyd Alter Updated October 19, 2019 Share Twitter Pinterest Email News Environment Business & Policy Science Animals Home & Design Current Events Treehugger Voices Even if more cars go electric, it's almost pointless unless we get rid of light trucks. The great benefit of electric cars is that there are no tailpipe emissions because there is no tailpipe. And even with our usual complaints, it has been wonderful to see them taking off. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA): Plans from the top 20 car manufacturers suggest a tenfold increase in annual electric car sales, to 20 million vehicles a year by 2030, from 2 million in 2018. Starting from a low base, less than 0.5% of the total car stock, this growth in electric vehicles means that nearly 7% of the car fleet will be electric by 2030. Teslas in the trees/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0 The IEA notes talk about "the beginning of the end for the ICE age.” As passenger cars consume nearly one-quarter of global oil demand today, does this signal the approaching erosion of a pillar of global oil consumption?" Nope. In fact, emissions from transportation keep climbing, even as fewer cars are sold and more are electric because so many more people are buying SUVs and pickup trucks. On average, SUVs consume about a quarter more energy than medium-size cars. As a result, global fuel economy worsened caused in part by the rising SUV demand since the beginning of the decade, even though efficiency improvements in smaller cars saved over 2 million barrels a day, and electric cars displaced less than 100,000 barrels a day. It's just going to get worse. CC BY 2.0. Escalade at Toronto Auto Show/ Lloyd Alter Escalade at Toronto Auto Show/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0In fact, SUVs were responsible for all of the 3.3 million barrels a day growth in oil demand from passenger cars between 2010 and 2018, while oil use from other types of cars (excluding SUVs) declined slightly. If consumers’ appetite for SUVs continues to grow at a similar pace seen in the last decade, SUVs would add nearly 2 million barrels a day in global oil demand by 2040, offsetting the savings from nearly 150 million electric cars. We do go on about how SUVs and pickups are killing and maiming people by the thousands, and all of the other problems that they cause, but surely this should raise some eyebrows. Many countries offer incentives and tax credits to encourage people to buy electric cars, which all seems kind of silly if they don't have disincentives for buying light trucks like SUVs and pickups. The government actually subsidizes big SUVs. Land rover tax credit/Screen capture It gets still worse; if you buy a truck or SUV in the U.S. that is heavier than 6,000 pounds, the IRS gives you a massive tax write-off for depreciation. Range Rover is even using this in their marketing to people who use their cars for business. Another site conveniently lists all the cars over 6,000 pounds (copied below) that are eligible for this. The government is giving these tax deductions because they consider these to be work vehicles. Given how dangerous they are, it's time to license their drivers to a higher standard as they do for trucks over 10,000 pounds. That would get a lot of them off the road fast. Here's the list of 2018 cars and trucks that are over 6,000 pounds, via Financial Samurai. Audi Q7BMW X5BMW X6Buick ENCLAVECadillac ESCALADE AWDChevrolet Truck AVALANCHE 4WDChevrolet Truck SILVERADOChevrolet Truck SUBURBANChevrolet Truck TAHOE 4WDChevrolet Truck TRAVERSE 4WDDodge Truck DURANGO 4WDFord Truck EXPEDITION 4WDFord Truck EXPLORER 4WDFord Truck F-150 4WDFord Truck FLEX AWDGMC ACADIA 4WDGMC SIERRAGMC YUKON 4WDGMC YUKON XLInfiniti QX56 4WDJeep GRAND CHEROKEELand Rover RANGE ROVERLand Rover RANGE ROVER SPTLand Rover DiscoveryLexus GX460Lexus LX570Lincoln MKT AWDMercedes Benz G550Mercedes Benz GL500Nissan ARMADA 4WDNissan NV 1500 S V6Nissan NVP 3500 S V6Nissan TITAN 2WD SPorsche CAYENNEToyota 4RUNNER 4WDToyota LANDCRUISERToyota SEQUOIA 4WD LTDToyota TUNDRA 4WDVolkswagen TOUAREG HYBRID