Newswise — Electric cars are technically alluring, because they produce no tailpipe emissions and can, at least in principle, be recharged using renewable sources of electricity. For these reasons, environmentalists have embraced them, as have policymakers the world over. But these reasons for wanting to adopt electric cars on a large scale don’t hold up very well to detailed scrutiny. Studies that include full lifecycle costs show that, other than for concerns related to climate, the environmental damages from electric cars are greater than those from conventional vehicles. And even when you just consider greenhouse-gas emissions, the difference between electric cars and some conventionally powered ones is very small. What’s more, these comparisons ignore the more fundamental point: automobiles by their very nature are not environmentally friendly, no matter what powers the car.
For a copy of the article (“Unclean at Any Speed,” by Ozzie Zehner, IEEE Spectrum, July 2013) or to arrange an interview, contact: Nancy T. Hantman, 212-419-7561, [email protected].
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