Electric cars have made its presence more common year after year as the lithium ion battery technology for cars improve at a promising rate, some even surpassing the range of many petrol-powered cars. Many car manufacturers saw how Tesla filled the demand gap of people wanting better looking electric cars with a more "user-friendly" battery range. Now that they've proven that to be a great success and demand has been through the roof, big car manufacturers like Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, and more want a piece of the pie as well. With such an increase in the presence of electric cars on our roads, experts have been questioning how eco-friendly they really are.
The notion that electric cars would do the environment no better due to how energy is generated is a flawed statement to some degree. Although it is true that higher levels of carbon pollution resulting in more coal and natural gasses being combusted in order to produce more energy is true, many regions around the world produce energy using renewable sources and increasingly in the United States. In fact, all Tesla super chargers source their energy through solar power.
Bearing in mind that electric cars themselves have no tailpipes that directly emit fumes into the environment, places like the Burlington, Vermont where all its energy is sources through renewable methods would see an significant net decrease in carbon pollution if more electric cars are used; if 20% of all its drivers made the switch to electric vehicles, that would directly translate to a 20% decrease in carbon emissions from petrol-powered cars. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy sources account for 20% of the United States' energy source. A study conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) showed that despite the emissions produced by the manufacturing of lithium ion batteries, the energy efficiency of using an electric vehicle would far offset those carbon emissions over time.
Despite critiques arguing that electric cars are actually worse for the environment, researchers have proven that statement to be false on a long-term timeline. With more EVs emerging in the market for a more affordable price and a realistic range of travel, along with better looks (as opposed to the Nissan Leaf), some say almost everyone would be driving an electric car by 2050.