The trend towards larger cars is obvious in recent years. Electric SUVs (越野车) have also been growing in popularity, representing roughly 35 percent of electric car sales in 2022, according to the latest figures released by the International Energy Agency. But although electrification of the global vehicle brings climate benefits, there is also cause for concern.
Electric SUVs are still greener than the petrol (汽油) ones, but their size and weight removes some of the climate gains. Their larger batteries require more raw minerals (矿物), like cobalt and lithium, putting extra pressure on global supplies. “New policies to encourage people to choose smaller electric vehicles (EV) may be needed, such as increasing taxes for Electric SUVs. We could reduce hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) overtime.” says Christian Brand at the University of Oxford.
Air pollution is another worry. In poorer countries like India, electric vehicles will lead to significant improvements in urban air quality. But in richer countries, where petrol cars tend to be cleaner, the situation isn’t so clear. “The benefit of moving to an electric vehicle, from a certain point of view, is actually pretty small,” says Frank Kelly at Imperial College London. And since electric vehicles still produce pollution from their tires, brakes and road wear, air pollution won’t fully go away. “We’re still going to have a pretty big problem in our cities,” says Kelly.
As such, governments must do more to reduce car dependency, particularly in urban areas. Clean public transport is the solution to our air pollution problem in urban areas. We should be reducing the number of all private vehicles as much as possible, not celebrating the increased figures.
【小题1】What can we learn about the Electric SUVs?| A．They greatly improve air quality. |
| B．They are not as green as expected. |
| C．They will not become globally popular. |
| D．They sold better than petrol ones in 2022. |
| A．The trend towards EVs is not clear. |
| B．Petrol cars produce less air pollution. |
| C．EVs may not have the desired effects. |
| D．Petrol cars are cheaper in rich countries. |
| A．Start an argument and call on action. |
| B．Express concerns and suggest solutions. |
| C．Introduce products and attract attention. |
| D．Compare products and offer suggestions. |
