The drive for sustainable mobility goes through the spread of green vehicles. According to the Acea 2024 Report, ‘Vehicles on European Road s’, vehicles circulating on the roads are on the rise, but their growth does not match the spread of green vehicles, where the percentage of electric and plug-in hybrids is around 1.2%. However, development is optimistic according to statistics from Motus-E, which identifies 251,023 electric cars circulating in Italy on 30 June 2024, with an excellent trend in new registrations.
Contributing to the ecological spread are propulsive incentives in Italy, such as the 8 million fund made available by the Ministry of Transport from 26 August 2024 for road haulage companies. Or the 6 million from the Lombardy Region’s April 2024 investment plan to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises replace their company fleets with green vehicles. The ACEA 2024 Report shows that petrol and diesel vehicles currently make up more than 60 per cent of company car fleets.
However, the market for green vehicles is still somewhat enigmatic and difficult to access economically for many consumers. So let’s find out how the types of green vehicles differ, the benefits they provide and the challenges they face with a view to a future-oriented and ambitious look at everyday mobility.
Types of green vehicles
Green vehicles are environmentally friendly vehicles powered, entirely or almost entirely, by alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. They differ in the type of power supply: electric, hybrid or hydrogen.
Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)
BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) use only the electrical energy contained in the battery pack as the driving power source. They have no on-board auxiliary energy sources, which is why they require the battery to be recharged from a mains socket at public and domestic charging stations.
Hybrid vehicles (HEVs)
HEVs (Hybrid Electric Vehicles), on the other hand, are equipped with two separate propulsion units working in synergy: an electric motor and one or more internal combustion engines, usually petrol engines. In this case, the electric component is self-powered while driving, without the need for an external energy source, but can only cover short distances.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs)
PHEVs (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles) are also equipped with an electric motor and one or more heat engines. However, they have a larger battery than conventional hybrid vehicles, so they can cover longer distances and higher speeds with just the electric motor.In this case, the battery can be charged either internally, using the kinetic energy produced while driving, or externally via the electrical outlet of a public or domestic charging station.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs)
FCEVs (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles ) are green vehicles that use hydrogen as their primary energy source. To do this, they use hundreds of fuel cells, which convert the hydrogen in the tank into electricity through an electrochemical process that reacts with oxygen in the air, generating only heat and water vapour as waste products.
Advantages of green vehicles
It is not only regulations, such as the ban on the sale of new petrol- and diesel-powered cars from 2035, that are bringing consumers closer to green vehicles. Ecological awareness and the drive for innovation, combined with increased safety on the road and the potential offered by alternative fuels, are driving the contemporary motorist to take an interest in future prospects in terms of mobility. Let’s see in detail what benefits are at stake.
- Reducing climate-altering emissions and noise pollution: green vehicles meet EU targets to reduce pollutant emissions by 60 per cent by 2030. Leading the sustainable change is the electric vehicle which, on a European average, reduces climate-changing emissions by 55% compared to a vehicle of the same weight and power powered by petrol. Eco-fuelled vehicles are also quieter than their combustion engine equivalents, thus contributing to the reduction of noise pollution, which is in excess especially within urban perimeters.
- Better urban mobility: green vehicles are perfect for urban traffic, can access restricted traffic zones and are exempt from paying for blue stripes. A further incentive for sustainable mobility to improve urban living.
- Lower maintenance costs: in the case of hybrid or electric vehicles, the more or less consistent use of the electric motor reduces the maintenance costs of the mechanical parts of an internal combustion engine. In fact, the battery of an electric motor is designed to last around 8-10 years.
- Lower consumption costs: green vehicles can cover longer distances at lower consumption costs than petrol or diesel cars. In fact, an electric car consumes four times less than a car with a combustion engine of the same weight and size and twice as much as the equivalent plug-in hybrid.
- Possibility of home recharging: in the case of a BEV or PHEV, it is possible to refuel at home by installing a recharging station, such as our Dazebox, in the comfort of your own home, garage or shared car park.
- Incentives to support the purchase: the initial challenging costs of buying a green vehicle are, however, supported by government incentives.
- Lower cost of car insurance: the greater safety of an electric or hybrid vehicle and its belonging to a merit class play in favour when calculating the insurance premium, with an average saving of between 10% and 30% compared to taking out a policy for diesel or petrol cars.
Challenges for the deployment of green vehicles
Despite the advantages of safe, sustainable, efficient and optimal driving for city life, the purchase of a green vehicle requires a significant initial economic investment. According to research by the FIA (Federazione Italiana dell’Automobile) , cost is the most relevant issue for consumers and represents a challenge to the electrification process to date, especially for FCEVs, where the cost of the fuel cell doubles the cost of the car compared to an electric equivalent. Added to this is range anxiety, i.e. the anxiety that the green vehicle cannot cover a long distance in electric range, the fluctuating cost of energy, with forecasts of growth in the future, the uncertainty of the used-electric market, and the limited availability of recharging infrastructure across the country.
These are some of the key factors in assessing the current consumer market, which, based on its personal habits and financial resources , is looking at green mobility investment with indecision. Some concerns can be compensated for by parameters of confidence, such as almost zero maintenance costs, low consumption costs, the current average electric range of 450 km, and government investment inincreased charging infrastructure. However, electrification, and even more so the development of FCEVs, are part of a gradual process where collective ecological awareness and redistribution of economic resources intervene. The sustainable transition passes first through consumers and invests in their propensity for innovation.