Study on climate advantages of electric cars held back in Switzerland

According to the study, which was commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, the answer is quite clear: for over 90 per cent of the petrol or diesel cars currently on the road, replacing them immediately with a new electric car of the same size would result in CO2 savings. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy decided not to make the study in question public, apparently for fear of criticism.

The study is called Kaufentscheid: Wann es sich lohnt, auf ein Elektroauto umzusteigen, which translates as “Purchase decision: When is it worth switching to an electric car,” and clearly shows that switching to an electric vehicle of the same size always has a more positive effect on the climate than continuing to drive an existing vehicle with a combustion engine. The study includes numerous aspects of the question, including effects such as the combustion engine vehicle being sold on the second-hand market in other countries, for example.

According to the report by the Swiss online magazine Republik linked below (in German), the Swiss government office has withheld the study because it is “afraid of the accusations from the right-wing populist corner of ‘state re-education’, or building energy policy ‘castles in the sky’”.

The Federal Office only made the study available to the Swiss publication Republic and the WAV Research Collective under the Swiss Freedom of Information Act. The government office wrote that it distanced itself from its conclusions with the statement: “The questions regarding the purchase of electric vehicles have changed since the concept was drawn up in 2022 and the report does not provide a clear answer to the question of whether the purchase of a new electric vehicle with the simultaneous sale of the used fossil vehicle has a positive or negative impact on the climate.”

The statement from the Swiss Federal Ministry has been shown to be false by those publications that have read the study, as well as by Romain Sacchi, mobility expert at the Paul Scherrer Institute, who disagrees with the Federal Office of Energy’s statement. The research carried out by the research institute Infras is “outstanding”, writes Sacchi, and its conclusions are “clear”. In addition, notes Rupublik, electric vehicles have become even more efficient in the meantime, which should make the statement even clearer today.

Green-Liberal National Councillor Jürg Grossen, President of the Swiss E-Mobility Association, stated: “If a federal office spends taxpayers’ money on studies, it must also publish the results.” Republik reported that Grossen sees no reason why this should not happen, especially as the study only confirms what others have already said. Email communication made available to Republik shows that the study alone cost CHF 118,000 in 2024 (roughly 126,000 euros).

Beyond misleading statements of a government agency about a study funded with public money, the withholding of the study reveals a deeper issue that a government authority is withholding information from the public, for fear of criticism and voter backlash.

Martin Winder from the Swiss Transport Club told Republik that it is unacceptable that scientific findings are not published for fear of the public response, “Such studies are important because they answer the question of how we should behave if we don’t want to pollute the environment.”

republik.ch (in German)