STUDY: YOUR ALL-ELECTRIC CAR MAY NOT BE SO GREEN

AP: People who own all-electric cars where coal generates the power may think they are helping the environment. But a new study finds their vehicles actually make the air dirtier, worsening global warming….

The key is where the source of the electricity all-electric cars. If it comes from coal, the electric cars produce 3.6 times more soot and smog deaths than gas, because of the pollution made in generating the electricity, according to the study that is published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They also are significantly worse at heat-trapping carbon dioxide that worsens global warming, it found.

The study examines environmental costs for cars' entire life cycle, including where power comes from and the environmental effects of building batteries.

"Unfortunately, when a wire is connected to an electric vehicle at one end and a coal-fired power plant at the other end, the environmental consequences are worse than driving a normal gasoline-powered car," said Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science, who wasn't part of the study but praised it….

But if the power supply comes from natural gas, the all-electric car produces half as many air pollution health problems as gas-powered cars do….

read … STUDY: YOUR ALL-ELECTRIC CAR MAY NOT BE SO GREEN

IEEE: Unclean at Any Speed -- Electric cars don’t solve the automobile’s environmental problems – “Let’s not be seduced by high-tech illusions.”