Myths/electric cars pollute more than standard cars
< Myths
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Revision as of 22:15, 1 July 2015 by Woozle (talk | contribs) (Created page with "category:sustainability category:energy category:transportation {{hdr/myth|Electric vehicles (EVs) cause as much or more pollution than petrol-only cars.}} ==Myth=...")
| Myth: Electric vehicles (EVs) cause as much or more pollution than petrol-only cars. |
Myth
Example
- 2015-07-01 Here's Where Electric Vehicles Actually Cause More Pollution Than Gas Cars: "The EV that caused no environmental damage on the road during the day still needs to be charged at night. This requires a great deal of electricity generated by a power plant somewhere, and if that power plant runs on coal, it’s not hard to imagine it spewing more emissions from a smokestack than a comparable gas car coughed up from a tailpipe." (h/t) – based on a study by the dubious National Bureau of Economic Research
Reality
This argument basically holds electric vehicles solely responsible for the pollution of their electricity sources, as if those didn't also need to be made more sustainable. Nobody denies that EVs cause pollution if they are charged using polluting sources; this is almost inevitable (although it should be noted that electric motors are more efficient at converting energy to torque than IC engines are, so it's not entirely a foregone conclusion that they pollute just as badly).
Points to Consider
- EVs are neutral as to their energy source – unlike HC-powered vehicles, which depend on fossil fuels or synthetics (currently expensive, rare, and inefficient).
- HC fuel itself needs to be transported in other vehicles (tanker trucks), generating still more pollution, while electric power transmission is quite efficient by comparison.
- Many EV owners have solar panels at home which they use to charge their vehicles – creating essentially zero pollution – so even in an area that is powered by fossil fuels, you can't assume that any given EV is polluting vicariously.
EVs are not the whole solution to sustainable transportation, but they are an essential part. Barring new fuel technology (cheap synthetics, some manageable form of hydrogen, etc.), you can't have sustainable transportation without electric vehicles.