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Regardless of What Mr. Bean Says, EVs Are Much Better for the Environment than Gasoline Vehicles

Inside Climate News · By Dan Gearino · last updated
An opinion piece actor Rowan Atkinson wrote for The Guardian contains some familiar and misleading criticisms of electric vehicles.

By Dan Gearino

Researchers who study the emissions of electric versus gasoline vehicles have gotten used to the occasional flare-up of the idea—often framed in a misleading way—that EVs are harmful because of emissions tied to mining and manufacturing of the cars.

Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: renewables

State of Play

Renewable energy sources — once the fuel of the future, then practical in specific, narrow applications — are increasingly economic mainstream sources of power generation. Hydropower was long the mainstay of U.S. renewable electricity generation, although wind power surpassed hydro for the first time in 2019, and solar continues its rapid growth. The continued growth of wind and solar, with their fluctuations, is tied in part to improvements in storage technology: batteries.

More informationabout ENERGY BASICS: renewables