Today’s policymakers in transportation see the Climate Change problem from a tailpipe perspective, as can be seen from the text below posted on .gov.uk

The UK government has set ambitious targets to increase the adoption of these vehicles. By 2030, 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain must be zero emission, with a goal of reaching 100% by 2035

In other words, as long as they don’t have a tailpipe are classed as NET ZERO vehicles, and the problem is solved. Easy as that.

While electric motors are by far more energy-efficient than internal combustion engines, and this is a great leap forward, electric cars are still nowhere near Net Zero. There are two more requirements to be met: to get their energy from renewable sources and to be manufactured and shipped with minimal emissions or at all, and on these, not even our grandchildren will be lucky enough to see them starting to happen. Here are two insights showing realistically where we are with the emissions for energy generation and manufacturing processes for the so-called “Net Zero Vehicles”. Until at least 70% of the world’s energy comes from renewables, NO ELECTRIC VEHICLE, NOT EVEN AN ELECTRIC SCOOTER, CAN BE CALLED IN HONESTY “NET ZERO”.

The UK is a privileged nation. Their citizens’ relatively high income might allow them to buy electric cars, and the country’s wealth might make it possible to build the infrastructure to keep them running solely on renewables by 2050. However, even if we did “our bit” as a country, although highly commendable, it is totally irrelevant from a global perspective. We’d solve a “staggering” 0.91% of the global problem, and it would be hypocritical to call it “SOLVED” because the majority of electric cars, energy generators and storage, power grids, and charging facilities along with over 80 % of the goods we use and the food we eat are produced outside the UK and shipped overseas emitting enormous amounts of GHG.

High-income countries like the UK hold only 15% of the world’s population. The rest 85% is located in emerging-economy countries where the majority of the people and governments can’t even dream of electric cars and renewable infrastructures. If they continue to emit, (and they will because they need to manufacture our cars and renewable infrastructure components, they need to continue chopping down carbon-sinking rainforests to make room for carbon-releasing farming activities to feed us, because our land will be surrendered to solar and wind farms), global emissions will continue to rise, the environment will continue to degrade, while we the privileged, driving cars without tailpipes will praise ourselves for being sustainable.

Just like electric cars, Nymbel vehicles also benefit from the energy- efficiency of their electric motors, but they only weigh 400 kg compared to the 2000 -2200 kg of a single-occupancy electric car. It fulfils the same task using only 20% of the energy. I know you will argue that an electric car can carry 5 people, and I agree. It can. But in 87% of the circumstances it does not, and this is the segment Nymbel is intended for. With the 80% weight reduction comes a proportional drop in energy, having a directly proportional impact on the emissions to generate it.

A five-fold lighter vehicle requires 6-8 times less resources to be manufactured, meaning 6-8 times less environmental destruction and pollution caused by mining activities, 6-8 times less international shipping and nonetheless, 6-8 times less energy/emissions and pollution from their manufacturing processes. Amplify this gain by six, because a Nymbel vehicle can serve 6-8 people/day (return trip), whereas an electric car only serves one person/day (in 87% of the cases). Altogether, the same outcome with at least 30 X smaller global environmental impact.

Given its simplicity, standardisation, and energy/resource/space/time efficiency, the system is affordable and easy to implement both in high and low-income countries, contributing to a global rather than local mitigation of Climate Change and other related crises.