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EVs Will Not Be Cleaner than Other Cars, Study Says

With all the excitement that engulfed the automotive industry this year over the rapid development of electric vehicles seems to have shadowed the ugly truth behind them. At least this is what a National Research Council study, named "Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use" concludes, adding that, overall, EVs will not be cleaner than fossil-fuel powered vehicles.

The reason for this is very simple. Though obviously they do not emit any harmful emissions themselves, EVs need electricity to be operated. Electricity itself is obtained by burning fossil fuels. And the amount to be burned to power the upcoming wave of EVs will increase over the following years.

"For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel mix has to move away from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed," Jared Cohon, National Research Council chairman was quoted as saying by Autonews.

According to the study, half of the power produced in the US is being obtained by burning coal, which is much more harmful than traditional pollutants. The only solution to this problem is for the industry to rely more and more on nuclear and renewable power sources. Unless electricity becomes cheaper to produce, the report says, EVs will not be cheaper than usual cars, not even until 2030.

Another source of eco-alerts for EVs are the batteries, which are hard to make and, in consequence, need more energy to get to their final state.

In conclusion, the only viable solution, for the time being at least, are hybrids, which generate their own electricity by recovering the energy used during braking.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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