It also fills a gap: many of the existing studies on electric-car efficiency were completed before models like the Leaf came to market; others have expressed their results in science-lab terms like pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year, not especially useful to consumers. Automakers have not always helped their customers understand the issues, either, typically painting electrics and hybrids with a green brush and an idealistic setting.
The context about environmental vehicles’ almost overwhelming superiority when it comes to climate impact and cost of fueling is important, however. Thankfully, outlets like the San Francisco Chronicle made sure to include that context. Reuters and The Christian Science Monitor even put in their ledes. Here’s the pithy first paragraph from the latter piece:
Compared with most cars, electric-drive vehicles are a plus for the environment - no matter where in the US they charge up. Their lower fuel costs, moreover, make them increasingly competitive with many conventional high-mileage vehicles and hybrids, a new study finds.
There’s a reason the Union of Concerned Scientists described electric vehicles’ performance as either “good,” “better,” or “best” in the 26 regions it surveyed. Where climate change and fueling costs are concerned, it seems they’re never bad.
Even better coverage would make it clear that the report's estimates of the greenhouse gas emissions of the all-gas vehicles also include the emissions from producing and distributing the fuel. They are "well-to-wheels" figures.
As the report says:
An Apples-to-Apples Comparison of EV and Gasoline Vehicle Global
Warming Emissions
To most accurately compare electric and gasoline vehicles, the emissions from producing the fuel as well as from consuming it must be taken into account. For gasoline vehicles, this means including emissions not only from propelling the car—i.e., by combusting the fuel in the engine—but also the emissions associated with extracting petroleum, refining it, and delivering it to the vehicle.
#1 Posted by Thad Curtz, CJR on Sat 28 Apr 2012 at 06:01 PM