Electric Cars Alone Won’t Drive a Drop in U.S. Emissions: Study
Electric cars alone won’t yield needed cuts in greenhouse gas, new research says. Policymakers need to cut carbon throughout the economy, especially from power plants.
The team modeled 108 scenarios, calculating not only future levels of CO2 expected to spew from tailpipes, but also emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from factories, power plants, and other sources. In a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology, the team reported that even in scenarios that yield the highest levels of EV deployment (high oil prices, low battery costs), plug-ins and hybrids would make up no more than 42 percent of all U.S. passenger vehicles in 2050 and would reduce overall emissions by a slim margin. (See related: "Pictures: Cars That Fired Our Love-Hate Relationship With Fuel.")
The new model, developed and refined over nearly four years, comes at a time of
