With electric vehicles (EVs) we should be careful what we wish for. Recently 79 per cent of panellists surveyed for a newspaper said that more should be done to encourage their use, and the Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, is an owner and a notable advocate. However, the story is not all good.

Let’s take greenhouse gas emissions. Dr Finkel pointed out that a Tesla, charged at the national average greenhouse intensity of the grid (910 kg CO2/MWh), is responsible for 168 grams of CO2 per km (emitted at the power station), and a Toyota Corolla for 178 grams per km (at the tailpipe). He also mentions one of the smallest EVs in the Australian Green Vehicle Guide, the Renault Zoe, at 121 grams per km.

Toyota Prius.

However, you don’t have to go electric to save emissions. More than 80 petrol or diesel cars on the Australian market emit less than the Renault Zoe. This does not include more than 20 plug-in hybrids, which can take their energy either from the power point or the bowser, whose actual emissions in use are very difficult to predict.

The lowest-emission car in Australia is still the Toyota Prius hybrid. This is essentially a petrol car – you can’t plug it in – which recovers the energy lost in braking and stores it in batteries. This may not sound like much, but at 84 grams per km it has half the emissions of the Tesla.