Although many people believe that buying a fully-electric car   is superior to a gasoline-based vehicle, electric cars aren't actually that much better for the environment. Even though electric cars do not emit harmful pollution themselves, the methods in obtaining electricity for them do. Since electric power plants primarily burn coal to produce electricity, roughly the same amount of greenhouse gases are being released into the atmosphere. “If you use coal-fired power plants to produce the electricity, then all-electrics don’t even look that much better than a traditional vehicle in terms of greenhouse gases,” says Virginia McConnell, an economist at the environmental research firm Resources for the Future.
https://www.wired.com/2016/03/teslas-el … een-think/

I think that electric cars are better for a couple of reasons. One is that there are solar powered electric generators to make the electricity. Another is that there are renewables like solar and wind power to generate electricity. We still use coal, however we are using less each year.

Although the methods for producing the electricity that power the cars emit pollution, in terms of sustainability, that is nothing compared to an everyday running fuel powered care releasing pollution into the air for years. Although we have not created the perfect electric car that does no harm to the environment, they are still better than the alternative gasoline-based vehicle that the majority of the population drives.

I think that although the methods for electric production will add to pollution the pay off by eliminating the gasses produced by nonelectric cars may be a step in the right direction in the U.S. alone there is 1.3 people per car and there are around 321 million people in the U.S. alone. This is substantial pollution being emitted and if more people switched to electric cars there may be a payoff in the process of ending air pollution.

Yes, electric cars are better because they use no gas so they won't pollute the air. The Tessa brand are producing cars that are more powerful than gas cars and use electric power.

While electric and hybrid cars a helpful in reducing carbon emission alternative fuel sources like hydrogen and solar are much better because Thierry emissions are less harmful.

I've thought about this in the past, because both methods of transportation have their upsides and downsides. However, there has to be a method that is the most environmentally effective. I wonder if there is some way of finding which type of car is more versatile, or if there is a medium between the two that meets the goal best.

That is true, this is why we need to lean into this instead of just jumping in. We should be using hybrids because they produce far less emissions but don't get plugged into a wall. Also this is far better because you don't have to find an electric charging station using more electricity when there probably isn't one. The only thing is that don't buy a Prius because they are so ugly.

I believe that electric cars are not just as bad as gas burning cars, i actually believe electric cars are worse for the environment. People claim that electric cars are zero emissions, which is true about the car, but not its power. 65 percent of electricity comes from fossil fuels and 15 percent comes from renewable sources, according to U.S.Energy Information Association. Therefore only 15 percent of electric cars are good for the environment.
    The source of power isn’t the only problem. Certain components of electric cars are made out of rare metals. For example the  magnets in the electric motors of electric cars contain neodymium, a rare earth metal. These rare earth metals are mined using chemicals and the disposal of these chemicals are devastating. Only .2 percent makeup mined soil and rock, according to Lizzie Wade. The rest of this contaminated soil is disposed of in the ground and this is destroying chinese farming villages. Not only this, but the turbines and solar panels used for renewable energy sources come from these rare earth metals.

I completely agree that electric cars are no better for the environment than gas powered cars. I even had the same discussion with my family a few days ago. The only difference between the two is that one version releases pollutants while it's being used, and the other releases pollutants so that it can be used.

Hi all, good discussion!  I wanted to let you know that in about a week, we are launching a new version of the footprint calculator that you used, and that will have an option for selecting electric cars - so you can see how it compares!

Many of your points are totally valid...but here is the argument for electric cars:

The most viable solution to reduction in emissions is to:
1) make our electric grids sustainable
and then
2) electrify everything -- including cars, stoves, water heaters, etc

This is the basic proposal of the Solutions project at Stanford -http://www.thesolutionsproject.org

In some locations (like where I live in Seattle) -- our electricity is pretty clean (mostly from hydro - salmon is another discussion...), so having an electric car makes sense.

For those who live in coal burning locations, maybe it is still OK as a future investment in clean transportation?

What do you all think?

However, not all electric cars get their electricity from coal power plants. A lot of these cars get their energy from clean sources such as hydroelectric, solar, or wind power. Even those powered by less clean energy sources still don't put out as much carbon as regular gas fueled cars.