Why are electric cars so great, if the electricity used to recharge them is from fossil fuels?
Because EVs have much lower total emissions than gas cars for several reasons: 1) Only half the power in the US power grid (52% to be precise) comes from coal. There’s also nuclear and renewables. 2) Large power plants are fairly efficient at converting fuel to energy. 3) Electric motors are extremely efficient – close to 90% efficiency in converting electricity to the car’s kinetic energy. 4) Internal combustion engines are quite inefficient – on the order of 30% efficiency in converting the gasoline’s chemical energy to the car’s kinetic energy. As discussed in the link below, studies have shown that EVs produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than internal combustion engine cars, and even hybrids.
