A: Electrical vehicles are not 100% green. 58% of UK electricity is produced by burning gas or coal or by generated nuclear power. That means nearly 60% of UK electricity is not from renewables. And it doesn’t end there. The average weight of a modern electric car battery is 450kg, the equivalent of a full carload of people everywhere you go. This is just a car. Imagine how much heavier an EV or electric lorry is.
The chemicals used to make the batteries are known killers. Some possible lithium-ion battery materials are toxic, carcinogenic, or could undergo chemical reactions that produce hazardous heat or gases. Toxic materials include lithium compounds, nickel compounds, arsenic compounds, and dimethoxyethane.
If your product is on the hight street, only a short distance from you, it will require no more packaging than it already has on its box. Online shopping items must be repacked and use more additional packaging that you will have seen your own bins each week.
Tyres from these vehicles cause larger amounts of ‘road spill’, carrying toxins and chemicals into rivers and affecting wildlife. Brake dust generated from all four wheels of many electric vehicles contains asbestos that can cause serious illnesses such as lung and mesothelioma cancer.
Online shopping stats say 1 in 3 items may be returned, causing even more problems to the environment. That’s around 1.4 BILLION RETURNED ITEMS EACH YEAR.
Delivery apps mainly utilise e-bikes that use less electricity than a car. But they charge restaurants 38% commissions, putting up the prices of everything you buy on apps.
