Study: Electric Cars Produce 30% More Emissions Than Ethanol Cars

Nick Chambers — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:02:27 +0000

An analysis done by Biofuels Digest has come to the very surprising conclusion that an electric car will produce 30% more carbon dioxide emissions over its lifetime than a car powered by E85 corn ethanol. Not only that, the study also found that the same electric car will produce 21% more carbon dioxide than even a gasoline powered car.

These claims assume that 100% of the electricity for the EV comes from coal-fired power plants and that a comparable car would get 35 mpg—both of which seem like unrealistic assumptions. So I dug around the internet today to try and come up with more realistic numbers.

Does India’s New Biofuels Policy Spell Sustainability?

Reenita Malhotra — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:10:45 +0000

It’s official, India must work towards the use of biofuels. On September 12th the Indian government announced a new national biofuels policy: By 2017 it will aim to meet 20% of India’s diesel demand with fuel derived from plants rather than fossils.

But where will it come from? According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research, a Delhi think-tank, it means setting aside 14m hectares of land, for the growth of jatropha, a key biofuels raw material.

Green Options » Biofuels Digest

Study: Electric Cars Produce 30% More Emissions Than Ethanol Cars

Does India’s New Biofuels Policy Spell Sustainability?