You are correct that today, in the US, on average, electric vehicles do not provide a significant improvement in emissions over hybrids like the Prius. [1] Ho

You are correct that today, in the US, on average, electric vehicles do not provide a significant improvement in emissions over hybrids like the Prius. [1] However, something to consider is that an electric vehicle effectively decouples transportation from the emissions source, forever. Power generation is projected to continue to get cleaner over time [2], and as power generation improves, the emissions of electric vehicles improve with it, even without any additional improvement of electric vehicles themselves. While US power generation may never be as free as fossil fuels as that of France, it is only getting better, and electric vehicles can ride that wave. If instead, we continue to drive gasoline vehicles (even hybrids), we will never stop pumping out CO2 with our cars. The only renewable resource that can power a car directly, without transitioning through electricity, is solar, and there just isn't enough power in the solar radiation that strikes the roof area of a car to be practical. Natural gas vehicles are actually a good stepping stone to reducing CO2 emissions, since methane (CH4) has roughly half the carbon per unit of energy. There is renewed interest these days in developing natural gas vehicles, but I personally think electric vehicles will win the race. [1] http://www.afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.php http://www.afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.php [2] http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/MT_electric.cfm http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/MT_electric.cfm