“If you charge a plug-in hybrid or a battery electric vehicle with dirty electricity, you’re just exchanging tail pipe emissions for upstream emissions from electric power,” DeCarolis, an assistant professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering said.
Snippets from the study’s abstract further reveal: “The model results do not demonstrate a clear and consistent trend toward lower system-wide emissions as EDV (electric drive vehicles) deployment increases. In addition to the trade-off between lower tailpipe and higher electric sector emissions associated with plug-in vehicles, the scenarios produce system-wide emissions effects that often mask the effect of EDV deployment.”
The electricity to power electric cars comes from somewhere. The key to cleaner or reduced emissions lies in using better means of generating that power.
