ilovecars said:
Call me crazy, but with all the electric vehicle hype these days, has anyone considered that the electricity still has to be produced?
In the Pacific West (which is the only place I can speak of with knowledge) electricity is generated with Hydro power, rivers, dams, turbines.
But from what I understand, that isn't commonplace around North America, let alone the world.
How much CO2 does a coal burning plant, garbage burning plant etc produce while making electricity?
Ok, you are crazy.
Oil refinery is the second biggest source of CO2 gas (Coal is #1). But oil refined still has to be delivered to the local gas station (where the tanks often pollute the ground water), and you can put it into a vehicle gas tank using electricity (From coal fired plants) to power the pump. So without question electric powered vehicles are cleaner than those that use gasoline, diesel, or even natural gas.
Just the carbon footprint of the delivery system for these other products kills the arguments made for them by those that don't want to change the way they do things.
Add the extra oil burned to lubricate an ICE, and the numbers just get better for the battery powered car. NOt to mention the belts that are not needed, the heat produced, etc. etc. Do you really think that having several billion heat generators driving around doesn't warm the atmosphere at all? Just the temperature of the operating systems should be a clue. I would say it isn't physics, but it is.