Electric cars are actually 'Coal powered cars' since the electricity comes from coal. The batteries are the worst, most polluting part

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1/18/12, "Coal Powered Cars," American Thinker, Viv Forbes

"Electricity is not a primary source of energy - it is a way of transmitting energy from primary sources or storages to electric applications and machines. In my country, Australia, 93% of electricity is generated from carbon fuels, 77% from coal. This will not change dramatically in the near future.

Therefore most electric cars in Australia will run on coal. Such vehicles will produce more carbon dioxide per kilometre than the petrol/diesel cars they replace.

All vehicles need a method of storing energy while travelling between resupply stations. For cars and trucks, highly concentrated energy in the form of diesel, petrol or gas can be conveniently stored in simple fuel tanks.

Electric cars need heavy costly batteries which have low energy storage capacity. They are so limited in range that most are supplied as petrol/electric hybrids - these are heavier, more costly and more complex than our current car fleet. And hybrids need two energy storage tanks.

The green fantasy is that electric car batteries can be recharged by solar cells on your house roof. This will work. Yes, after a just few days plugged into the solar panel, the cute green car may be ready for a trip to the local shops.

Electric cars will have no effect on global climate - they are another example of costly green tokenism. They are rich men's toys.

Those who want them, not electricity consumers or tax payers, should pay for them."

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'Rare earths' minerals needed to make electric car batteries are so polluting to extract that none are mined in the US. Most come from Communist China. Obama's electric car business pivots on a Communist Chinese product which renders electric car CO2 emissions as high or higher than petrol equivalents per study by Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership funded by UK gov. and car industry:

6/10/11, "Electric cars may not be so green after all, says British study," The Australian, Ben Webster

"ELECTRIC cars could produce higher emissions over their lifetimes than petrol equivalents because of the energy consumed in making their batteries, a study has found. An electric car owner would have to drive at least 129,000km before producing a net saving in CO2. Many electric cars will not travel that far in their lifetime."...

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"Rare Earth Metals," UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability

US environmental rules and wages make it too expensive to extract rare earths here. So the US is not "in the race." Most rare earths come from Communist China now. Rare earth smelting plant in Communist China, picture below, reuters, 11/21/10

• Below, Rare earths mine in Communist China from DailyMailOnline, Jan. 10, 2010

(continuing, The Australian, 6/10/11): "Emissions from manufacturing electric cars are at least 50 per cent higher because batteries are made from materials such as lithium, copper and refined silicon, which

• require much energy to be processed.

Many electric cars are expected to need a replacement battery after a few years. Once the emissions from producing the second battery are added in, the total CO2 from producing an electric car rises to 12.6 tonnes,

• compared with 5.6 tonnes for a petrol car.
  

Disposal also produces double the emissions because of the energy consumed in recovering and recycling metals in the battery. The study also took into account carbon emitted

• to generate the grid electricity consumed.

Greg Archer, director of Low CVP, said the industry should state the full lifecycle emissions of cars rather than just tailpipe emissions, to avoid misleading consumers. He said that drivers wanting to minimise emissions could be better off buying a small, efficient petrol or diesel car."...


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