Doesn plugging in the car just trade oil pollution for coal pollution?
Californians are spoiled by one of the cleanest electrical grids in the U.S., but even where coal supplies much of the electrical power, plugging in vehicles is still a smart environmental solution. One thing that is often overlooked when electric power plant pollution is discussed, is the upstream pollution required to extract oil, transport it, refine it, distribute the gasoline then refuel a vehicle (vapor emissions). Comparing the national electrical grid to the average gallon of refined gasoline shows that the upstream pollution for gasoline production on average is much higher than that of the average electricity source.
