The brand new electric car industry has been highly talked about as of late. They make these new vehicles appear to be far superior than the gasoline cars that most people use. Which electric cars, when compared to gasoline cars, can initially appear to be the more eco-friendly option. Since electric vehicles run on a battery instead of gasoline, they have zero tailpipe emissions (Hirsch). This means that while you are driving an electric vehicle you are producing less greenhouse gasses than if you were driving a gasoline powered one. This is where most people’s train of thought stops and they think that electric vehicles are better for the environment than the car they already own. But the fact is that electric cars, with current technology, are worse for the environment than gasoline ones.

Something that most people may not consider is how electric cars are charged. Some electric car owners are able to charge their vehicles at charging stations specifically made for electric cars. These stations are more common in certain areas such as California, where the local government has made efforts to encourage the use of electric vehicles (C. E. Thomas). For most people though, they have to charge their cars at home using typical plug-in sockets. Both of these methods of charging are powered by electricity that derives from power plants. These power plants can pose a real harm to the environment. The various plants across the country may have different ways of being powered. Some are powered by coal and fossil fuels, while others are powered by more greener methods such as gas, solar, and water. These eco-friendly power plants are very scarce though, and mainly occur in places that have charging stations set up, such as in New York and California (Oremus). Since most places have power plants that are powered by fossil fuels, an increase can occur in that area’s carbon footprint if everyone in that region was to switch to an electric car. This is partly due to how power plants fuel their electricity grids. During a majority of the day, power plants will use their most environmentally friendly sources to power the grid since this is when demand for electricity is the highest (Holland). During the late hours of the night though they use their secondary resources, that typically are more harmful to the environment, since demand for electricity at this time is significantly less and they last longer. This normally would not cause many issues with pollution as late at night is when most people are asleep. However though, since electric cars need to be charged nearly every day to run effectively, this can have drastic consequences. Most people will only be able to charge their vehicle at night while they are sleeping. This means that the secondary sources power plants use to power their electricity grids will be used up more. Since these secondary sources are typically more harmful to the ecosystem than their primary sources, this would drastically increase the amount of pollution created. “In fossil fuel–dependent Minnesota an electric car would actually emit 300 grams per mile of greenhouse gases,” while in California the same car “would produce only 100 grams per mile,” due to the different types of energy sources the power plants use (Biello). 

How power plants run and how eco-friendly their fuel sources are can contribute a major part to the potential harm of electric cars, but what matters more specifically is the location. By location I mean where the electric cars are being used and where their energy sources derive from. There are many highly populated cities throughout the U.S such as New York and Chicago. These cities tend to have high population densities and in result have a higher than average amount of pollution. A reasonable portion of this high amount of pollution comes from their gasoline powered vehicles. Research has shown that if everyone in these highly dense, highly polluted cities, were to switch their cars for an electric one, the overall pollution in the city would be decreased (Hirsch). For example, an electric car in highly dense New York would only produce an amount of pollution equivalent to that of a 135mpg gasoline car. This is only for these specific instances though, and since the majority of the United States is not highly populated and highly dense, then these benefits would not apply. This is due to the fact that the carbon dioxide being produced would be higher with electric cars than without them (Holland). This is from the pollution, previously discussed, coming from the electric power plants being more harmful for the environment than the gasoline cars alone. 

A major contributor to the carbon emissions of electric cars is their production. The process for producing these vehicles is no easy task. They use typical car parts such as steel, copper, and aluminum (Electric Cars Aren’t As Green As You Think). But, the batteries for the cars require specific rare metals that require intensive mining to gather them. This process alone produces extreme amounts of pollution than the usual mining required to produce a gasoline car. The mined ores then have to be converted into usable materials and those materials have to be converted into parts to manufacture the car, all of which creates pollution. Then, on top of the already high pollution levels, even more emissions are created just from the car being assembled (Berners-Lee and Duncan). All of this pollution adds up, and establishes the majority of a car’s carbon dioxide emissions during its lifetime. If all cars in the U.S. were to be replaced with electric cars, the carbon footprint would be increased solely based off the extra pollutants produced from manufacturing the cars (Electric Cars Aren’t As Green As You Think). 

How people drive their vehicles also contributes to the amount of pollution they will produce. Someone who lives closer to the city and/or their job will obviously drive less distance to go to work every day. If they live close enough they may also consider riding a bus or even walking to work. This would be great if everyone could do this but that is not a likely possibility. Most people live outside of the city where their job is or live too far away for them to simply walk or ride a bus to work. With all of these people driving to work this creates a massive amount of pollution every day. It is true that if everyone switched to an electric car then the pollution produced from everyday commutes would be almost zero. But, all this would do is change when the pollution happens and would not necessarily lower the amount produce. This is due to pollution being produced at night from power plants that are used to charge the electric cars. 

People can change their methods of driving to reduce the amount of pollution they produce without the use of electric cars. If people try to drive as little as possible and instead walk or take public transportation, such as a bus or subway, to places then pollution would be drastically reduced. Commuting with others is also another great method as instead of each individual person causing pollution with their own vehicle there is only one vehicle creating pollution while still getting everyone to their destination. Also, just using your car for as long as reasonably possible can help reduce pollution (Berners-Lee and Duncan). This is mainly due to the fact that producing a car creates high levels of pollution, and is especially the case with electric vehicles. So, if everybody used their car for its reasonable lifespan then a massive amount of pollution would be reduced as manufacturers would not need to produce as many vehicles therefore lowering the amount of pollution they would create. 

With electric vehicles having virtually zero tailpipe emissions they seem to be an amazing method of reducing the carbon footprint. But, since pollution is still a major issue with electric cars then ways to improve these vehicles should be implemented to make the best use of their pollution reduction capabilities. Research has been done into the various types of batteries and fuel cells that electric vehicles use. Hydrogen powered fuel cells have proven to be the most effective at reducing the carbon dioxide produced. Not factoring in production, if everyone was to use hydrogen fuel cell powered electric cars then yearly greenhouse gas production could decrease to less than 80% of what it was in 1990 (C. E. Thomas). Not all electric vehicles are powered by fuel cells, as some are powered by the more inefficient batteries. If all the electric cars were to use fuel cells instead it would be one-step closer to making these vehicles more beneficial than the gasoline ones mostly used today. 

Since one of the main issues with electric car pollution is the power plants that charge the vehicles, some changes could be made to make them more eco-friendly too. Most power plants run on fossil fuels, which is the main cause of their high levels of pollution. Replacing these fossil fuels with greener energy methods, such as solar and wind, would be the best option for reducing these levels of pollutants. But, even other slightly less environmental methods, like natural gas, can reduce pollution from these power plants. California, “Uses coal to generate only 13% of its electricity, compared to 52% for the national average”, whereas “40% of (its) electricity comes from natural gas,” which greatly reduces the state’s greenhouse gas emissions (C. E. Thomas). If all states across the nation were to follow California’s example, then power plants would become more efficient at reducing pollution and electric cars could become a viable option compared to gasoline ones. These observations could easily be applied to production of electric vehicles as well. If car manufacturers were to use greener energies to gather their materials, then extreme amounts of pollution would be reduced. The same applies during the refining and assembly processes too. If the entire car production process was powered by solar, wind, water, or other eco-friendly energies, then pollution reduction would be extreme and could bring greenhouse gasses to an all-time low.

Sadly, most of these methods to reduce pollution of electric cars are just not possible right now. The idea of all electric cars being powered by hydrogen fuel cells and car manufactures being able to use only green energies as well as power plants is not a feasible option at this point. This is the heart of the problem with electric cars is that the world is not ready for them yet. Technology simply has not come up with environmentally friendly ways to produce these zero emission vehicles. The methods we have for harnessing the energy from the sun, wind, or water simply are not efficient enough to be used for these places that demand high energy. Mining requires extreme amounts of energy to break the earth and gather ores required for electric cars and using green energy sources would not provide enough to complete this task in an efficient way. The assembly of the car itself usually requires many machines that can move heavy parts and can accurately perform their duties. It takes a tremendous amount of energy for these machines to do their jobs and green technology, with the way it is today, would not be able to provide enough for such an energy demanding task. And power plants running on green energy is something that is a long way away from happening. To be able to produce enough energy for the power grid using just solar, wind, and water would be nearly impossible with current technology. Technology, can be improved upon though to make electric cars more viable, but until then the pollution problem still remains. 

However, some efforts are being made today that will slowly aid in the reduction of pollution from electric cars. One researcher has suggested the idea of putting charging stations at workplaces that are powered by solar energy (Birnie). This would help against the problem of people charging their vehicles at night and avoiding the extra harmful pollution power plants create at that time. Using solar power would also be beneficial as it does not cause in carbon dioxide emissions. This would be very viable since it is not on a large scale because only one vehicle would be getting charged by the energy source at a time. Also, the vehicles would be stationary for a prolonged period of time, giving the solar panels more time to charge the car. This means that even if the energy being put into the car is not plentiful it will still provide a meaningful amount, as it is being charged up for a majority of the day. If these were implemented across the nation it is estimated that pollution from electric car charging would be reduced by around 25% (Birnie). This does not help for during weekends or days when people are not at work but it is a helpful start for a future with lower pollution. Some states have started trying to implement similar methods to encourage electric car driving and making it more beneficial. California has already made many improvements in their energy plans, such as using natural gas for power plants, and continue to reduce pollution with their zero emissions standards (C. E. Thomas). Other states have started following in California’s step as for example, New York has started to implement charging stations in its cities as well as trying to use less fossil fuels in their energy production. These efforts show that technology will improve to make electric cars more beneficial in the distant future. 

Electric cars may appear to be far superior than gasoline powered ones. They have zero tailpipe emissions, can be charged at home, and are powered off of electricity and not harmful gasoline. The truth is that these electric cars would be far worse for our environment than they seem. The production is extremely harmful for the ecosystem and power plants just cause too much pollution for them to be beneficial everywhere. The best option would be to use your current car for as long as reasonably possible and then switch to a hybrid car that can use both electricity and gasoline. Until technology becomes able to efficiently power these processes with green energy, then electric cars are not worth the pollution they cost. 
