If we’re talking about conventional electric cars that have to be plugged in, you have to consider how that electricity is being generated. The majority of power plants in this country are COAL-POWERED. If we all had electric cars, we wouldn’t have any exhaust coming out of the cars, but there would be a lot more coal being burned to generate the electricity to charge the cars’ batteries. So how does that reduce pollution?
Actually, I think that solar panels at home to charge the electric car would make a difference.
I suspect that the inefficiencies in electric power generation due to generation loss and transmission loss may well result in more CO2 emissions if we rely on the exisitng electric generation system than if we just used gasoline powered vehicles.
Since we have no new nuclear plants and most of our rivers have already been dammed for hydro, incremental electricity for the electric car will undoubtedly come from coal fired plants. There is better coal plant technology that reduces CO2 dramatically, but it is not manatory and is not the method of choice for power plant construction due to higher costs.
Joe,
We need to reduce our dependence on Foreign petroleum, period. Doesn’t matter if you believe the world is melting or not, or if EV’s have a smaller carbon footprint. 60% of the oil we use is imported.
EV’s allow for energy diversity, and more stabilility in fuel costs, and energy security. And while electricity from coal would result in an EV that pollutes almost as much as an ICE car, most of the power in the USA is from much cleaner sources. Coal plants account for 44% of electrical generation in this country, not the majority.