Electric Vehicle Myths: #3 EVs Aren't Greener than Gasoline or Diesel-Powered Cars

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2. I believe you are correct. The overall lifetime carbon footprint of an electric car

is lower than a gasoline-powered car, even including the effect of power plant emissions, and the emissions from construction of the electric car, including the battery. Here's an analysis from CarbonBrief: https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-electric-vehicles-help-to-tackle-climate-change

However, I wouldn't call any personal vehicle (except a bicycle or other driver-powered vehicle) "green". There's nothing green about the environmental impact of building and fueling any car, electric or otherwise. Also, if someone takes a gasoline car that's 5 years old with less than 100,000 miles - in other words, plenty of life left - and replaces it with an electric car that they drive for 5 years before replacing THAT car, it's possible that the "greener" option would have been to drive the gasoline car for 10 years, because in that case only 1 car is built in 10 years instead of 2 cars.

The only green option is not having a personal vehicle at all. Arguing that a Tesla is greener than a corvette misses that important point. Yes, I know that many, many people don't have public transit options and can't reasonably be expected to bicycle. I also know many people who do have public transit options and just can't see themselves riding the bus, as well as people who replaced a perfectly serviceable car with a Prius or Tesla, and then replaced that car with a newer model a few years later, mostly because they just wanted a brand-new car. They probably thought they were being pretty green.