Challenging Vehicle Electrification and Plug-In Cars

This report covers the early history of plug-in cars. It and the others in this series, provide a comprehensive analysis of the historical evolution of BEVs and BHEVs since 1990. They document the inflated MPG claims and describe the mechanisms and arguments used to misrepresent electrification of transportation.

An electric car essentially represents a shift from burning petroleum as gasoline or diesel in a vehicle to burning coal, natural gas, and uranium in a power plant, from which electricity is sent through the electric power grids to charge the electric vehicles battery. CO₂ and other pollutants from fossil fuel consumption will still be generated, not from the hundreds of millions of cars as is done now, but from the approximately 20,000 power plants, most of which burn coal. Furthermore, electrification of transport will not reduce CO₂ emission 80% by 2050, as called for by most major governments and the International Energy Administration. Proponents of electric cars suggest alternatives such as the capture and burial of power plant CO₂ emissions or generating electricity from wind turbines and solar photovoltaics (PV). But I am not convinced that burying CO₂ is technically feasible, given the enormous volumes, the rudimentary state of the technology and the threat to future generations. Electricity from wind and PVs is growing rapidly but is still expensive and may not be able to provide the electricity for hundreds of millions of battery cars in the foreseeable future.