Are SUVs becoming a climate problem?
SUVs now dominate global car sales, and even electric vehicles are getting bigger. Does size mean higher emissions and new problems for cities and the climate?
Across the world, cars are getting taller, wider and heavier. Sports Utility Vehicles, or SUVs, now dominate global car sales, and the trend has continued into the electric age with many new EVs larger than ever.
In this episode of The Climate Question, Jordan Dunbar examines why bigger cars have become so popular with drivers and so profitable for manufacturers. From comfort and safety to status and aspiration, SUVs are reshaping roads across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Size matters. Heavier vehicles use more energy, require bigger batteries, and create challenges for cities, from congestion and parking to road damage and safety. Jordan speaks to Theo Leggett, the 麻豆社鈥檚 International Business Correspondent, and Anjani Trivedi, Global Business Correspondent at The Economist, about car-spreading, emissions, electrification, and whether governments and consumers could reverse the trend.
Guests:
Theo Leggett, 麻豆社 International Business Correspondent
Anjani Trivedi, Global Business Correspondent, The Economist
Presenter: Jordan Dunbar
Production team: Ben Andrews, Grace Braddock, Tom Brignell, Gareth Jones, Diane Richardson, Nik Sindle
Editor: Simon Watts
Image: CJ Gunther / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock
Got a question or a comment? You can email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com
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The Climate Question
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