Several news stories out since yesterday. This is one of them:

Electric Vehicles Pollute More than Gas-Powered, Study Says

Electric cars, heralded as environmentally friendly, may cause more harm to the environment than their gasoline-burning counterparts, a new study found.

The study examined 34 major Chinese cities and found that electric cars caused 19 times more particulate matter pollution, which consists of acids, organic chemicals, metals, and dust, than gasoline cars.

"An implicit assumption has been that air quality and health impacts are lower for electric vehicles than for conventional vehicles," Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and one of the study's co-authors, told Eurekalert. "Our findings challenge that by comparing what is emitted by vehicle use to what people are actually exposed to."

Electric vehicles in China outnumber conventional vehicles 2:1 and cause indirect pollution from the way the electricity that powers the cars is made. Eighty-five percent of electricity production in China comes from the burning of fossil fuels, and approximately 90 percent of that production is from coal, according to the study. The burning of coal causes a variety of heavy metals such as lead and mercury to be released into the environment as well as large amounts of carbon dioxide and toxins such as hydrogen cyanide.

"The study emphasizes that electric vehicles are attractive if they are powered by a clean energy source," Cherry told Eurekalert."In China and elsewhere, it is important to focus on deploying electric vehicles in cities with cleaner electricity generation and focusing on improving emissions controls in higher polluting power sectors."

The findings were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. This study raises the question of whether the increase in electric vehicles in the United States could lead to similar problems. The United States produced 3,884 terawatt hours of electricity in 2010, the latest year numbers are available for, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Of that, approximately 3,223 TWh, 83 percent, was produced using fossil fuels. Despite the country's reliance on fossil fuels, however, Cherry said he does not believe the United States needs to worry about the same kind of pollution.

"Even though we still generate a lot of energy from coal in the U.S., we have a lot of pollution control," Cherry said. He added that the United States has anti-pollution laws that China does not, which help moderate emissions here. "Our environmental protection laws have set thresholds [for pollution emissions], so what that did was force the power sector to adopt technologies to reduce emissions, such as scrubbers on smokestacks."

The researchers found that pollution from electric vehicles affected more people than conventional vehicles. Using pollution models, the researchers estimated that half of the pollution generated from power plants was breathed in by rural dwellers.

"The silver lining of this is China has a lot of improvement that can happen, and when it does, electric vehicles will look a lot better," he said.

of course they had to add this in....
"The silver lining of this is China has a lot of improvement that can happen, and when it does, electric vehicles will look a lot better," he said."

and look at italicized words, think about them....and "a lot"....compared to the current scenario OR to "regular cars"...way too much mumbo jumbo spoken here ...to help lift up "green cars" ...imho

Hybrids run on gasoline.

This would be one of those "duh!" moments.

yup, Partially

my 69 FGF is a hybrid too...runs on rubber(tires) and gasoline

Gravity often helps as well.

...but not uphill.

They plan on putting marshmallows and telescoping sticks in the glovebox of all Chevy Volts. It gives the owners something to do while waiting for the fire department to arrive.

We've done 2 Saturn Vue battery recalls.
Both had corrosion.
Thier only stocked at Kansas City BDC, Mo, so takes couple 2-3 days before car is repaired.
O-ya, retails for $1071.40, plus $300 core.

Start to finish the Jeep Wrangler (the TJ model) was the most efficent vehicle made. This was taking into consideration the energy spent designing, manufacturing, running, and even longevity.

weather or not its better for the environment remains to be seen...but from my stand point 40k for the car 5K for new battery's in a few years and the higher cost on your electric bill to plug this thing in at nite where is the savings over the pump????????

Hybrids run fully on gasoline, Bjorn.

ok...its not my title on the subject....but the subject is about electric cars...

Electric cars were tried over a hundred years ago. The market apparently didn't materialize then.

My title, referring to hybrid owners, was simply a reference to how hybrid owners feel they're "saving the planet" by driving an electric or hybrid vehicle. It's not just electric vehicles, it's all hybrids. It's just that this study focused on those vehicles that are electric only.

So I guess a hybrid gives you the worst of both worlds. Switch from hydrocarbon-belching-baby-killing internal combustion mode, to radioactive-waste-deforming-your-unborn-children electric mode.

either case...Im not getting one....neither a hybrid or a Volt.

I could see a dual gas version , gasoline and liqid gas as some cars do in some European countries for instance.

and whats 'economical' is usually based on how 'your' govt will tax it...in some countries where the govt wants you to use diesel, diesel is taxed less than gas...and vice versa.
taxes will make a difference on how or which energy we use....
just wait until the govt mandates (maybe by high taxes on gas) electric cars, then when you all have them , they want to reduce your driving , electric taxes will go up.

As George Harrison wrote back in 1966;

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Great Britain had a 98% tax, and celebrities and musicians all ended up living abroad to avoid that tax. Just loopholes to allow them to keep more money. Sort of like how John Kerry moved his yacht to avoid paying taxes.

I sat in a Volt in a Chevy showroom. The MSRP was $45,000. Look at Chevy's website, it shows the Volt at $31,645? Ahhh....in fine print, it states that $31,645 is the base price, and that's AFTER a $7,500 tax credit. Plus in Illinois, you get ANOTHER $4,000 income tax credit, for a total of $11,500.

And you just KNOW they're STILL making a hefty profit on these cars, even after knocking $11,500 off the sticker.

here you go! a Hybrid test vs a BMW M3......at the end of this gas mileage test on different cars...
whats you guess, which gets better mileage (at the same speed) BMW M3 or a Prius!??


One of my favorite episodes of Top Gear said it best - the prius race
is at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxUsGiGp3w

Even with the taxpayers being forced to pay through the nose to subsidize the sales of the Volt, they still only sold 7,671 of them in 2011. In comparison, Chevy sold 13,164 Corvettes. And in January 2012, only 603 Volts were sold. That's less than an average of 11 in each of the 57 states.

"in each of the 57 states".

LOL

An update to the Volt sales:

Chicago Tribune - GM to Halt Volt production for five weeks

halt production of their 'best seller'? lol

Part of the problem the dealers have is that they have to park them well away from any of the other cars on the lot so that there is plenty of room to be able to get the fire engines to them.

maybe wait until summer and have a 4 th of July Fire Cracker Sale!