Electric Vehicles vs. Internal Combustion Engines — Ensuring the Comparison is Fair

Here’s another note on the value of electric vehicles vs. internal combustion engines.

I’m intrigued with the points that Glenn Doty has raised regarding the spurious logic that the DoE and others have used in their “well to wheels” comparisons. As I pointed out here, I’m not convinced that he’s entirely right, but I grant that we may be over-estimating the amount of coal we’re saving as we move to EVs.

Having said that, we need to acknowledge the non-ecological damages caused by oil, one of which is national security. Each day, we borrow another billion dollars and send it to regimes largely antagonistic to the US and its interests. Each day, our young people fight and die in the Middle East, as we prosecute wars that would not exist if it weren’t for oil.

As loathsome as coal is, it exists in large quantities right here.