Also, if the new energy created to power these cars is coal, how is that better on pollution?
It depends on the pollutant. For CO2 it works out about the same as gasoline. For smog it's still an advantage because it moves the pollution out of concentrated population centers and into centralized plants where it's easier to control. Many, many places in the US get most of their power from fuels other than coal.
The problem is that the extra energy capacity is often from coal in the US, so every electric car that goes on the road increases the amount of electricity produced by coal. For example, California buys energy from other states at night and much of that is created by burning coal. I don't have the numbers handy but I'm sure it can be found with a little work.
For example, California buys energy from other states at night and much of that is created by burning coal. I don't have the numbers handy but I'm sure it can be found with a little work.
California's peak coal usage yesterday was 0.08%.
I'm sure it's worse in the summer. If the incremental energy is created with natural gas, there's still the "evil" CO2 to deal with.
Even better data.
Or natural gas, which doesn't create a lot of particulates. Given that the shift away from coal is already underway, it seems like a self-solving problem.
But Greenies count CO2 from natural gas as bad too.
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