[mr.smith]

I recently read an article that argued that electric cars are really not nearly as good for the environment as many think. Richard Pike of the Royal Society of Chemistry found that a mass adoption of the electric car in the UK would only reduce carbon emissions by 2%. Similarly, the US Congressional Budget Office found that electric car subsidies " will result in little or no reduction in the total gasoline use and greenhouse-gas emissions of the nation's vehicle fleet over the next several years."

There is of course research that supports the conclusion that electric cars are great for the environment (at least when compared to their gas guzzling cousins.) However, much of this research is funded by the auto industry. For example, the Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis has partnerships with BMW, Nissan, and Chrysler/Fiat. This sponsorship may not cause purposeful tampering of research data (hopefully,) but it does have an impact on which research projects even get taken up by the institute.

How important is it to you that your electric car or hybrid actually is good for the environment? Would you consider other transport options if you found that your car was not as good for the environment as you had thought? What are your thoughts on the issue generally?

 

[mr.smith]

How long do you think it will be till EVs really take off? There has definitely been an uptick recently in hybrid and EVs being sold, but I agree that the infrastructure isn't there. I'm thinking 15-20 years before they really start competing with fossil fuel powered vehicles.