Thread by @eegarnett89

Crunching some numbers:
🚄#HS2 's construction is 8-14 million tCO2 (~12)
🔌1 electric car (Nissan leaf)'s construction is ~10 tCO2
🚘The UK has ~44.5 million petrol&diesel cars
🤯Replacing them all with EVs would take 445 million tCO2 or *37* HS2s
🚉HS2 = 1.2 million EVs
/1

For context, 10t CO2 = 1 UK person /year
Also, #HS2 will last much longer than 1.2 million electric vehicles.
Plus there's ecological impacts of lithium mining for EV batteries. Though building rail takes more concrete?Still :#RailNotRoad
@Greens4HS2 /2

Refs:
transport-network.co.uk/HS2s-contribut…
carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-…
autoexpress.co.uk/news/108960/20… /3

To be clear: I think a small number of EVs has a role in a zero carbon future.
EVs - compared to conventional cars - pay back their carbon debt in <2 years of driving.
It's just that on almost every sustainability metric: electric rail > electric car.
carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-…

CORRECTION! Apologies.
~32 million cars&vans in the UK.
32 million EVs = 320 million tCO2 or *27* HS2s.
nimblefins.co.uk/cheap-car-insu…

* pay back the *extra* embodied carbon compared to a petrol/diesel vehicle.
Electric cars pay back their embodied emissions (10t CO2e) compared to driving a petrol car after about:
30,000km: medium car
36,000km: compact car
co2.myclimate.org/en/portfolios?…
8 years of use: average UK car