A Brighter Future for Electric Cars and the Planet

There is simply no credible way to address climate change without changing the way we get from here to there, meaning cars, trucks, planes and any other gas-guzzling forms of transportation. That is why it is so heartening to see electric cars, considered curios for the rich or eccentric or both not that long ago, now entering the mainstream.

 Think Electric Vehicles Are Great Now? Just Wait...

‘The steady improvement in lithium-ion battery energy will render the latest plug-in hybrids comically superfluous.’

Ignore the haters: electric cars really are greener

We had our carpets cleaned the other day, and when the cleaner guy found out what I did, the very first thing he said was, "I was going to get an electric car." Then he looked at me almost apologetically. "But I heard they're actually worse for the environment." It's not the first time I've heard it. The media loves these stories.

Electric Cars Are Not Necessarily Clean

Your battery-powered vehicle is only as green as your electricity supplier.

Electric Vehicles - Healthy for the Planet or Not?

Is the electric car more of a public relations creation than an environmentalist’s dream?

Electric Vehicles Will Triumph Because They're Better, GM Veteran Says

Electric vehicle sales may be driven mostly by policy and preference right now, but they’ll soon be powered by dominant economics—including a profitable symbiosis between electrical drive and autonomous control, according to a former researcher for General Motors.

Forget Saving the Planet, Driving an Electric Car Will Save Your Life

If you want to sell the climate change fight, make it about personal health.

Infographic: Are Electric Cars Really Green?

Well, we are not experts on the environment, but as electric cars enthusiasts we would like to answer yes, however everything strongly depends on the how electricity is produced and what materials/recycling methods will be used for batteries and where the emissions occur. Sadly, most of the reports are limited to CO2, which is just one of many emission components, and not necessarily the worst (some others could be more dangerous for health in large cities).

Plug-In Electric Cars - Do They Merit the Hype?

For all the hype, and even assuming that the taxpayer subsidies will continue indefinitely, it seems highly unlikely that electric vehicle sales will rise to even 5% of total light duty vehicle sales for several years. In other words, the internal combustion engine will be the norm for the foreseeable future. We will still need the oil.

Tesla's Electric Cars Aren't as Green as You Might Think

Overall, “the greenhouse-gas-emissions footprint of electric vehicles can be pretty high on the front end, as they’re being built,” says McConnell. “And so you need to get a lot of benefits on the other side, when you use it.” And after you’re done using it.

The Car That Killed Glamour

Tesla and the end of the automobile as an object of desire.

There Are Places Where Electric Cars Pollute More Than Gas Guzzlers

If you think they're always greener, these county-level maps will take you by surprise.

Top 10 Reasons To Buy An Electric Car Right Now

Electric cars are the technology of the future. Drive one today and let the herd follow you in times to come.

Voters Should Be Mad at Electric Cars

How much subsidy is flowing to electric cars these days? An accidental experiment in California might open some eyes.

Not so fast: why the electric vehicle revolution will bring problems of its own

Electric cars are praised as the answer to questions of green and clean mobility. But the overall sustainability of electric vehicles is far from clear. On closer examination, our entire transport paradigm may need to be rethought.

The worst thing about electric cars might not be an issue for much longer

Is "range anxiety" a thing of the past?

What Needs to Happen Before Electric Cars Take Over the World

Electric vehicles have only a tiny market share, but the auto industry is betting billions that they will soon be as cheap as conventional cars.

Even More Evidence That Electric Cars Could Save the Planet

“For the US overall, an electric vehicle is much cleaner than a gasoline vehicle, even when you take into account the emissions from natural gas, coal, or however else you’re generating the electricity,” says Dave Reichmuth, a senior engineer in the nonprofit's clean vehicles program.

How a handful of metals could determine the future of the electric car industry

As automakers race to go electric, there's a big problem lurking underground. Companies are betting hundreds of billions of dollars on electric cars and trucks. To make them, they'll need a lot of batteries. And that means they need a lot of minerals, like lithium, cobalt and nickel, to be dug up out of the earth. These minerals aren't particularly rare, but production needs to scale up massively — at an unprecedented pace — to meet the auto industry's ambitions.

It doesn’t take that many electric cars to improve public health

Researchers have found that California’s electric cars are already keeping asthma patients out of ERs.

The Grim State of Electric Vehicle Adoption in the U.S.

Plugging in cars and trucks will be critical to averting climate catastrophe, according to the IPCC. How far has the U.S. come?