EVs Cannot Be Advertised As “Zero Emission” Vehicles Yet!

BMW and MG Motors were not allowed to market their electric vehicles as having "zero emissions", according to rulings made on Wednesday by Britain's advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). This is because EVs still carry some hefty environmental impact on their manufacturing and power generation processes, which must also be accounted for.

When driving an electric vehicle, no emissions are produced. However, during manufacturing and charging—especially if the electricity is drawn from the national grid—emissions are produced as most national grids are still powered by coal. This was brought up in response to a Google advertisement for BMW that was viewed in August 2023.

BMW thereafter promised that the label "zero emission cars" would not be repeated in the future, claiming that it was automatically inserted by Google's keyword feature.

A similar decision was made in August 2023 concerning an advertisement for the former British automaker MG Motor, which is now owned by China’s SAIC Group. On the MG Motor’s case, ASA emphasised that the "zero emissions" claim lacked critical details that would have allowed consumers to comprehend its foundation.

Given the government's efforts to promote electric vehicles, Colin Walker, the UK’s Head of Transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, was surprised with these claims. He pointed out that while automakers are working to achieve zero-emission vehicle targets, they are unable to sell their vehicles as such yet.

"It seems perverse that car manufacturers, in an effort to meet the targets they have been set under this mandate for the number of zero-emission vehicles that they have to sell, are being told that they can't market those vehicles as zero-emission," Walker commented.