Electrification of classic vehicles, especially cars, is a divisive subject. The position of the Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance (HCVA), which is dedicated to ensuring the long-term sustainability of a UK industry with an annual turnover of £18.3bn, is that if a vehicle owner wishes to change the propulsion system in their classic car, then that is their choice. However, they should carefully consider the total environmental impact of a conversion that can often make no logical sense; in fact far from it!
If one regards the embedded carbon dioxide from the production of a classic car as a ‘sunk’ environmental impact, adding an electric powertrain and energy-storage system is re-embedding new CO2 that is unlikely to be recovered due to the very limited use classic cars receive. The time taken to recover these additional emissions is likely to be measured in decades, and in fact may never be reached because the battery system will probably need to...