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Just so you know.
Posted on: November 10, 2017 at 07:32:46 CT
GA Tiger MU
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Why Calling Electric Cars 'Zero Emission' Is Blatantly False Advertising
If truth-in-advertising laws were properly enforced, any company that labeled a battery-powered car as "zero emissions" would be guilty of breaking the law. A new report, in fact, shows that electric cars can be worse than conventional cars when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Autoplay: On | OffIn a recent news release, General Motors (GM) said it planned to someday be an all-electric "zero emissions" car company. Toyota (TM) says it wants all its cars to be "zero emission" by 2050. Other car companies are making similar promises. The push to go electric is largely being driven by fears about global warming and the desire to reduce CO2 emissions.
But the term "zero emission" is so unbelievably and wildly misleading that it's a wonder anyone gets away using it.
Yes, the plug-in electric cars that automakers are touting — and states like California are mandating — don't emit pollutants from their tailpipes.
That doesn't mean they don't contribute to pollution. It just means that the source of the pollution moves from the car to a power plant. That's especially true when it comes to CO2 emissions, which the power plant might pump out in copious amounts, depending on its energy source.
So, every time an electric car gets recharged, it's contributing to additional CO2 emissions.
Just how much CO2 is made plain in a new report from the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. It calculated the CO2 emissions from plug-in electrics, depending on the energy sources used to generate electricity in various countries, and then translated that into miles per gallon.
The result is eye-opening.
The report — authored by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle — notes that an electric car recharged by a coal-fired plant produces as much CO2 as a gasoline-powered car that gets 29 miles per gallon. (For context, the average mpg of all the cars, SUVs, vans and light trucks sold in the U.S. over the past year is 25.2 mpg.) A plug-in recharged by a natural gas-powered plant is like driving a car that gets 58 miles per gallon.
Solar, wind and geothermal do far better on this score, but they generate a small portion of the nation's electricity. More than 64% of electricity is generated by coal, natural gas or other fossil fuels.
The U of M researchers calculate that, given the energy mix in the U.S., the average plug-in produces as much CO2 as a conventional car that gets 55.4 miles per gallon.
If truth-in-advertising laws were properly enforced, any company that labeled a battery-powered car as "zero emissions" would be guilty of breaking the law. A new report, in fact, shows that electric cars can be worse than conventional cars when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Autoplay: On | OffIn a recent news release, General Motors (GM) said it planned to someday be an all-electric "zero emissions" car company. Toyota (TM) says it wants all its cars to be "zero emission" by 2050. Other car companies are making similar promises. The push to go electric is largely being driven by fears about global warming and the desire to reduce CO2 emissions.
But the term "zero emission" is so unbelievably and wildly misleading that it's a wonder anyone gets away using it.
Yes, the plug-in electric cars that automakers are touting — and states like California are mandating — don't emit pollutants from their tailpipes.
That doesn't mean they don't contribute to pollution. It just means that the source of the pollution moves from the car to a power plant. That's especially true when it comes to CO2 emissions, which the power plant might pump out in copious amounts, depending on its energy source.
So, every time an electric car gets recharged, it's contributing to additional CO2 emissions.
Just how much CO2 is made plain in a new report from the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. It calculated the CO2 emissions from plug-in electrics, depending on the energy sources used to generate electricity in various countries, and then translated that into miles per gallon.
The result is eye-opening.
The report — authored by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle — notes that an electric car recharged by a coal-fired plant produces as much CO2 as a gasoline-powered car that gets 29 miles per gallon. (For context, the average mpg of all the cars, SUVs, vans and light trucks sold in the U.S. over the past year is 25.2 mpg.) A plug-in recharged by a natural gas-powered plant is like driving a car that gets 58 miles per gallon.
Solar, wind and geothermal do far better on this score, but they generate a small portion of the nation's electricity. More than 64% of electricity is generated by coal, natural gas or other fossil fuels.
The U of M researchers calculate that, given the energy mix in the U.S., the average plug-in produces as much CO2 as a conventional car that gets 55.4 miles per gallon.
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Just so you know. - GA Tiger MU - 11/10 07:32:46
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