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[rendelharris]

DulwichLondoner Wrote:

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> One thing I quite never understood about electric

> cars is how polluting (or not) is it to generate

> that electricity?

Obviously it depends on the energy source: I've always heard that at a very heuristic estimate EVs powered with electricity from coal stations are about as polluting as a petrol vehicle, if the power comes from gas about 50% and obviously if the electricity comes from zero emissions sources then the car has effectively zero emissions. Also of course from whatever source the electricity comes there are zero kerbside emissions, so even if all UK power was still from coal it would be worth replacing all cars with electric ones (if that were possible) from an emissions/public health point of view. When comparing figures it's also important to note that many reports hold electric cars to account for their "well to wheel" (nice phrase Malumbu) output but only mention the exhaust pollution from petrol cars: extracting and refining crude oil, shipping it halfway round the world in tankers and then transporting it in HGVs to the point of sale is a very polluting process in itself.