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It's a common fallacy that electric cars are just "moving the emission source" and therefore no better than gasoline cars. However, even if 100% of the electric
by NickM 16y ago
It's a common fallacy that electric cars are just "moving the emission source" and therefore no better than gasoline cars. However, even if 100% of the electricity is generated from coal, an EV is actually much more environmentally friendly than any gasoline-powered car.
It all comes down to efficiency numbers. Power plants and electric motors are just massively more efficient than gasoline engines, and it's much easier to scrub the emissions on one pipe than many.
Of course, they also make it easier to transition to renewable sources (replacing one power plant vs. replacing many cars), but that's just icing on the cake.
- hugh3 16y agoAlso, if you don't care too much about the CO2 side of things (which I don't) then the world has a lot more coal than it has oil.
- ax0n 16y agoHow efficient is the transmission of electricity from generation to end point? How efficient is the charging circuitry? The motors? How many kilowatts need to be burned in a coal plant to put a kilowatt of energy to the pavement in an EV? I assure you, EVs themselves may be very efficient, but the archaic technology that 70% of the US (via coal/NG/oil smoke-and-fire generation) is using to generate and transfer electricity is not.
- NickM 16y agoIf you're interested, there's been plenty of research done on the matter. Search for "well to wheel" studies. You can find a good number of them online if you look, and electric cars beat the pants off of everything else.