Electric Cars Actually Dirtier Than Gasoline Cars?

Image: A car stuck in some mud. (Ozzie Zehner)

environmentalleader.com - July 5th, 2013

Electric vehicles are not as clean as they are touted to be, according to a peer-reviewed article published in the IEEE Spectrum.

Unclean at Any Speed says despite sweeping public opinion and the billions of dollars in subsidies granted to EV makers, the energy intensive materials used in manufacturing electric cars, as well as the life-cycle and disposal of the batteries, negate EV’s environmental benefits.

Author Ozzie Zehner, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, cites investigations from the National Academies and explains that because EV batteries are so heavy, manufacturers use lightweight materials like carbon and aluminum that are highly energy intensive to produce and process.

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