How green are the electric cars you can buy?

An electric car is only as clean as what it is made from. Lead the Charge scores the world's biggest carmakers on how far they have got in taking fossil fuels and human rights abuses out of the steel, aluminium and batteries they buy.

Scores are for the whole group, so Audi, CUPRA and Škoda share Volkswagen's. From the Lead the Charge 2026 leaderboard.

The carbon breakeven point

About 13,000 miles in the UK

Building an electric car, mostly its battery, makes more carbon than building a petrol one. Running on the UK's electricity, it has paid that back after around 13,000 miles: under two years for the average driver. From then on, every mile is a saving.

Carbon Brief, for a Tesla Model Y against a petrol car, updated August 2025. The ICCT's 2025 study puts it at about 17,000 km (10,600 miles) for an average new car in the EU, which over its life emits 73% less than a petrol car. A bigger battery takes longer to pay back; a cleaner grid, less.


1	Tesla	50%	48%	49%
2	Ford	40%	49%	45%
3	Volvo	55%	32%	44%
4	Mercedes-Benz	39%	42%	41%
5	Volkswagen Group Audi Bentley CUPRA Porsche Škoda Volkswagen	31%	46%	39%
6	BMW Group BMW MINI Rolls-Royce	30%	39%	34%
7	Renault Group Alpine Dacia Renault	28%	35%	31%
8	Geely Geely Lotus Polestar	31%	24%	27%
9	Hyundai Genesis Hyundai	21%	25%	23%
10	General Motors	20%	25%	22%
11	Kia	20%	23%	21%
12	Stellantis Abarth Alfa Romeo Citroën Dodge DS Automobiles Fiat Jeep Maserati Peugeot Vauxhall	14%	29%	21%
13	Nissan	13%	17%	15%
14	BYD BYD DENZA	13%	16%	14%
15	Honda	8%	16%	12%
16	Toyota Lexus Toyota	7%	10%	9%
17	GAC AION	5%	2%	4%
18	SAIC MAXUS MG	4%	1%	3%

How green are the electric cars you can buy?

The carbon breakeven point

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