Electric Vehicles Are Not the Solution

Ditching cars entirely is the only way we can have a real chance at fighting climate change.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Over the past several years, we have seen remarkable growth and interest in electric vehicles (EVs). While they largely attributed this to Tesla, nearly every legacy car manufacturer has invested billions of dollars in developing their own electric vehicle platforms to not only compete with Tesla, but to phase out their own internal combustion engine offerings and replace them all with electric vehicles.

This shift has been touted by climate scientists, policy makers, and climate activists as a step in the right direction to combat climate change. Many of these vehicles proudly sport “zero emissions” badges on them to signal their ecological credentials and their virtuous superiority over internal combustion vehicles, at least in terms of pollution. But these badges, along with all of the hype and the flashy marketing, are misleading.

Of course, these vehicles, while in use, do not produce harmful greenhouse emissions, unlike cars with internal combustion engines. But, that does not mean that these electric vehicles are really zero emissions. A key factor that few seem to ever consider has to do with charging these vehicles.