Electric cars aren’t better for the environment in our current ecosystem. You might not be burning fuel in your car but you’re burning coal at the power plant. Beyond that all you’ve done is make yourself more dependent on the power grid. If you are one of the very few people with self sufficient electric in your home you can skip this one.
You really have to factor in the refinement and transport of fuel though. And then needing to drive to the pumps and the additional maintenance ICE vehicles
And not all energy is created by burning coal. There are solar, hydro, wind, and nuclear. In fact, only 20% of our energy comes from coal, https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3.
I can’t speak for every state, but California has only one coal plant and an abundance of renewable energy generation. Including what consumers dump back into the grid.
I love our EV, and encourage others to buy one. They aren’t perfect, but it’s about incremental improvements. The next problems to solve is battery improvements, long-term battery resource sustainability, and building a more durable and less polluting tire.
Though yes, California does have the least non-renewable power generation. Can you say the same for other states?
Additional maintenance is negligible when compared to the price of battery replacement.
I don’t think there are many people making trips in their vehicle just for gas. With a gas station on nearly every corner you’re able to easily stop on an existing trip to refuel.
When the power grid fails due to a natural disaster gas power is all you’ve got. With the limited range you have, is it worth the risk to try to drive somewhere for power?
I’m not against hybrids provided you can still get a reasonable amount of mileage off the gas. But like you said, we need massive amounts of improvement on batteries before we’re ready for mass adoption and for EVs to really be a viable replacement option.
