Thoughtful, data-rich article on the place of electric vehicles in Hong Kong.
Because Hong Kong's electricity is about 70% derived from coal (the rest is carbon-free nuclear), electric vehicles are only a bit better than petrol cars and about the same as diesel cars in terms of CO2 emissions when calculated on "well to wheel" basis of electricity production.
That's because if you use coal-based electricity production to charge car batteries, you've changed only the source of the CO2 production not its amount.
With Australia having a much higher coal-based electricity production than even Hong Kong, electric cars there would do nothing to help cut down overall Australian CO2 emissions.
More nuclear!
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2004126/can-electric-vehicles-ever-really-meet-hong-kongs-transport
Sent from my iPhone
Because Hong Kong's electricity is about 70% derived from coal (the rest is carbon-free nuclear), electric vehicles are only a bit better than petrol cars and about the same as diesel cars in terms of CO2 emissions when calculated on "well to wheel" basis of electricity production.
That's because if you use coal-based electricity production to charge car batteries, you've changed only the source of the CO2 production not its amount.
With Australia having a much higher coal-based electricity production than even Hong Kong, electric cars there would do nothing to help cut down overall Australian CO2 emissions.
More nuclear!
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2004126/can-electric-vehicles-ever-really-meet-hong-kongs-transport
Sent from my iPhone
