Where Is the Electric Car a Good Idea?
26th August 2017
Politicians and car manufacturers praise electric cars as a solution to fight climate change, but the life cycle analysis of the whole vehicle shows that electric cars also cause pollution, sometimes even more than gas and diesel cars.
Manufacturing of batteries is a highly energy-consuming process. However, the main reason why the carbon footprint of electric vehicles can be significant is the way electricity is produced. Electricity emission factor is different according to the type of power plant (coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectricity, wind power…), so greenhouse gases emissions produced by an electric car change a lot from one country to another due to the type of power plants.
I will buy an electric car when I can get 400 miles on a charge and can recharge it in the five minutes it takes to fill up a tank of gas — only then.