Researchers concerned: "Big cars always worse for the climate"

He is a professor of internal combustion engines, and is currently researching the impact of car models on the climate throughout the life cycle - manufacturing, service, operation, and scrapping. And from this perspective, it is even clearer that big cars are worse, he says.

- A big car is always worse for the climate. Then it is positive that more cars are charging hybrids and electric cars, but not least electric cars get less climate imprint if they are smaller and lighter and have smaller batteries.

Many of today's big cars and SUVs may be leaner and emit less carbon dioxide than a little smaller cars did 30 years ago, but the professor is still worried about developments.

- Consumption is slightly lower today, even though the cars have become larger, but it could have been much lower. As soon as you develop more efficient engines, you have made cars that are heavier and draw more energy, so you do not see the fruits of technological development.

Öivind Andersson believes that politicians and lawmakers miss important parts of the cars' environmental impact when talking about emissions only when driving. This applies, for example, to tax benefits and the definition of environmental cars.

- You stare blindly at the exhaust pipe. An electric car has no exhaust pipe and then all electric cars are counted as zero emission cars - that's wrong. It's not zero emission cars. And there is a difference between big and small cars, even electric cars.

Research in Sweden and internationally indicates that an electric car battery produces 60-100 kilos of CO2 emissions per kWh on the battery. A long-range electric car can then give six to seven tons of emissions only on the battery, and maybe just as much for the rest of the car, if it is a large and heavy car. In extreme cases, a large electric car can produce as much emissions over its lifetime as a small diesel car. But the professor is absolutely for the development with electric cars. However, he wants to strike a blow for electric hybrids. Not least because materials for rechargeable batteries such as cobalt and nickel are a global shortage.

- On the one hand you do not have to drive around with very heavy batteries that only need to be used sometimes. On the one hand, you get more climate benefit per kilowatt if you put smaller batteries in more hybrids. Then there will be a total of more kilometers that will be run on electricity, says Öivind Andersson.

Andersson also thinks that charging hybrids should of course have engines that can run on biofuels. Today, the debate over diesel has led more and more manufacturers to use gasoline engines, not least in the charging hybrids. This is despite the fact that today's diesel engines can often be run on pure HVO, a completely renewable biofuel.

- Electric cars are part of the future, but I also think we should use good renewable biofuels if we are to reduce emissions as quickly as possible, says Öivind Andersson.