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Saturday, August 15th, 2015

Do Electric Vehicles Lead to Environmental Benefits?

Author:     Tam Hunt
Source:     Noozhawk
Publication Date:     08.12.2015 11:51 a.m.
 Link: Do Electric Vehicles Lead to Environmental Benefits?
Stephan:   One of my conservative readers urged me to get the electric vehicle study done by Stephen Holland of the University of North Carolina - Greensboro, because it "proves that you are wrong about the benefits of electric cars."  The whole thing is "a scheme by liberals to get government subsidies" he charged. I went looking in the Rightwing media world and discovered this is a widely held view so I got the study and read it. I thought it was profoundly flawed, as are most attempts by the Right to find scientific justification for their positions. I started to write my own essay on the subject and then came across this very sensible assessment.
Figure 4: Renewable electricity production in the United States. Credit: EIA Electric Power Monthly graphic

Figure 4: Renewable electricity production in the United States.
Credit: EIA Electric Power Monthly graphic

A number of studies have come out in recent years questioning the conventional wisdom that electric vehicles are better for the environment than efficient traditional cars.

A recent study from a team that included Stephen Holland of the University of North Carolina Greensboro as first author makes a remarkable statement, that “electric vehicles, on average, generate greater environmental externalities than gasoline vehicles.” The study compares electric vehicles (EVs) with gasoline vehicles and finds EVs wanting.

I’ll examine this study in some detail here to show why EVs are, in fact, very good for the environment.

The key problem with the Holland paper is that it uses already outdated data and doesn’t in its main analysis consider the ongoing transformation of our grid, which changes the main results quite remarkably.

The culprit behind the Holland study’s findings is good old coal. But King Coal is […]

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