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How to Tackle the Carbon Emissions Associated with Car Manufacturing
12 Nov 2022
Amidst a growing energy crisis, record greenhouse gas concentrations, and increasing extreme weather events, COP27, taking place this week from 6th November - 18th November, aims to seek action on these issues. One of the factors that will be addressed is the role of electric vehicles (EVs) as a primary tool to reduce carbon emissions from road transport. Being the worst contributor for greenhouse gas emissions, domestic transport accounted for 27% of the UK’s total emissions in 2019.
While fuel consumption accounts for a large portion of a vehicle's carbon footprint, the manufacturing process also has a significant impact on the environment. Experts have been calling for those in the automotive industry to see how they can reduce the use of raw materials. Bike conversion specialists Swytch Technology highlight one of the ways to do this is through up-cycling vehicles. Whether it's an old bicycle that has been left unused in your shed for years or the latest model, the Swytch kit allows you to turn any bike into an electric bike for under £500, with a pocket sized battery that costs less than £0.004 (0.4 pence) per mile to charge.
What's are the benefits of up-cycling?
Swytch is already well established as a leader in the electric bike industry - with over 40,000 customers worldwide already cycling electric on Swytch’s previous generation kit. The benefits of “up-cycling” an existing bike into an electric “Swytch” bike include:
Keeping the bike you love, and converting it to an electric
200kg of CO2e is saved v.s. buying a brand new eBike
£1,500 in savings v.s. Buying a complete eBike of equivalent spec.
Oliver Montague CEO and co-founder of Swytch comments:
"Swytch has contributed heavily to the EV industry with 1 in 20 eBikes sold in the UK in 2020 being a Swytch Kit. This past September, Swytch singlehandedly grew the entire USA eBike market by 1.6%.
“Our job as innovators is to make environmentally friendly technology that people want to use because it’s cool! That way, a global transition to a more sustainable way of life will happen organically.
"We are passionate about our sustainability initiative. A Swytch eBike kit takes just 50kg of CO2 to manufacture, meaning that the environmental impact is 8 times lower compared to most complete electric bicycles, which require emissions of almost 400kg of CO2."
