Electric cars run on coal, partly

Environmental groups and power companies are touting the benefits of emissions-free electric vehicles as a way to cut pollution in Texas.

But do electric vehicles, especially in Texas where much electricity is generated with coal, simply move emissions from the tailpipe to the smokestack?

"The electricity grid is a mix of generation technologies, some dirty and some clean. With electricity generation that tends toward dirtier feedstocks (like coal), you get fewer emissions benefits from electric vehicles," said Luke Tonachel, senior analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

About 37 percent of Texas power comes from coal, according to July data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's grid operator.

But even charged with power from dirtier sources, electric cars are cleaner than today's average vehicle and on par with the cleanest hybrids, Tonachel said.

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Electric cars are cleaner, even when the power comes from coal

While I am not a fan of General Motors and their horrible past scandals with the electric car or their current federal financial bailout, I am surprised by the falsehoods that writers use to describe the Chevy Volt. The Aug. 10 column by Jonah Goldberg, a conservative commentator, has the facts just plain wrong.

Goldberg does not seem to understand some basic energy principles. Even with the source of electricity coming from the most polluting methods of production, in this case, coal, electric vehicles will produce significantly less CO2 and other toxic pollutants into the atmosphere than produced by gasoline engines.
This is because the efficiencies of electric motors are far greater than their gasoline counterparts. Gas engines produce lots of heat (thus are about 25 percent efficient), while electric motors produce little heat and thus can be up to 95 percent efficient.

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