Environmental benefits

Hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars have proven environmental benefits.

The basic science is clear. Increasing the fuel economy of vehicles reduces the pollution they produce for any given journey. On average a good hybrid car averages about 50 mpg compared to 25 mpg for a traditionally powered car and a plug-in hybrid does between 75 - 150 mpg.

Electrically powered cars are five to six times more efficient at converting energy to motion. Only 15% of the output of an internal combustion engine goes to drive the car, most is lost in heat.

Using electricity to power vehicles reduces emissions and can be virtually emission free if renewable sources of electricity are used. Even if coal, the most environmentally unfriendly source of electricity is used to generate the power, plug-in hybrids and full electric cars are better than cars powered solely by the internal combustion engine. If emission clean electricity such as from nuclear power is used, then the environmental benefits are dramatic.

The electricity to power plug-in hybrids and electric cars is available without having to build new power stations in the short to medium term, if at all. Assuming the vehicles are mostly charged at night, they can take advantage of the fact that is more efficient to run many power stations, particularly coal and nuclear, continuously. Off peak power is readily available.

Plug in and electric cars also offer another potential benefit - providing power storage for the grid. Renewable sources such as wind often generate most power when demand is low - often at night - vehicle-to-grid technology allows the use of batteries in cars to store this power and provide it back to the grid when demand is high.

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