How are cars powered by electricity made from coal less environmentally damaging than cars that burn gasoline?

Question

How are cars powered by electricity made from coal less environmentally damaging than cars that burn gasoline?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Electric cars don’t burn coal; coal-fired power stations do. If your electricity grid is coal fired then obviously going to electric cars doesn’t solve your emissions problems but it does mean that moving to renewable electricity will help. In fact electric cars are a good fit for solar and wind generation because we can to some extent choose to charge the cars when they have surplus power and not during peak load.