Electric Cars Do Twice the Environmental Damage of Gasoline Cars

That Leaf over there, worse than a Canyonero.

Electric cars are suddenly everywhere, and being touted as the salve that will heal our wounded environment, no less. In Europe or Ontario, where electricity is generated in a variety of ways, many of which do not involve burning fossil fuels, electric cars do represent a "10% to 24% decrease in GWP (Global Warming Potential) relative to conventional diesel or gasoline vehicles assuming lifetimes of 150,000 km."

However, here in the USA where we like to set stuff on fire, and most of our electricity comes from coal or oil plants, the lifetime environmental impact of an electric car is nearly double that of a dinosaur juice burning car. This is because the manufacture of an electric car produces much more carbon emissions than that of a gas burner, and the energy for the charge is coming from coal or oil anyway.

Related: The Electric Mercedes SLS AMG is Even More Powerful Than the Gas One

[via Jalopnik]

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