Scrapping a Working Gas Car Early Cuts Emissions, Even a New One
The climate benefits of retiring an operational combustion engine vehicle
A new life-cycle analysis finds that retiring a functional internal combustion engine vehicle and replacing it with an electric vehicle reduces greenhouse gas emissions in most cases—even if the gas car is nearly new. The earlier the replacement, the greater the benefit, with carbon payback as short as three years for an average SUV on the US grid. The study highlights the potential of scrappage subsidies to accelerate the transition, though early retirement remains economically costly under current market conditions.
Although scrapping a functional asset remains economically prohibitive under current market conditions, these results demonstrate a major mitigation potential for policy interventions, such as enhanced scrappage subsidies, to address the emissions of an increasingly durable ICE fleet.