Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Environment?

Electric cars are more popular than ever in Elmhurst, with almost every popular automaker making an EV or an electrified version of an existing vehicle. Electric vehicles used to be considered niche and expensive, but these days they’re affordable and available! For example, Ford makes the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Mustang Mach-E, and the Transit E-Connect, giving drivers options for a fully-electric pickup truck, SUV, and passenger van. If you’ve never bought an electric car before or if you’re on the fence, you may be wondering: are electric cars really better for the environment? The short answer is yes! There are plenty of tangible environmental benefits of electric cars that you won’t find on gas-powered vehicles–Roesch Ford has all the details in the guide below.

Environmental Benefits of Electric Cars

There are a lot of unique benefits to driving an electric car, fromimproved performance to a near-silent ride to reduced maintenance. But are electric cars better for the environment than their gasoline-powered counterparts? While this answer might seem like an easy yes, there are some environmental downsides to producing electric vehicles. For example, some say that the electricity needed to power EVs actually result in increased CO2 emissions since they sometimes use non-renewable resources like coal and natural gas.

Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency has weighed in on the matter, and it’s all good news! They write that even if electric cars draw their power from coal or natural gas, they generate fewer greenhouse gasses than gasoline-powered cars. And, unlike gasoline cars, electric cars can make use of renewable resources like solar, wind, and even hydropower! It does take a lot of carbon to produce an electric car’s battery, but EVs don’t have engines so they don’t generate any CO2 emissions from exhaust the way gasoline cars do. The carbon needed to produce an electric car is more than offset by the lack of tailpipe emissions. Even with all the extra pollution needed to make an EV battery, they still end up producing fewer greenhouse gasses than even the most efficient gas-powered car.

In addition to environmental benefits, electric cars are beneficial to your wallet as well–depending on your specific make and model, you can get up to $7,500 as a federal tax credit just for driving one in Addison!

Keep Up With Roesch Ford For All Things Ford!

If you want to see how the F-150 Lightning or any of the other EVs in our Ford lineup handle on the Villa Park roads, contact our office to set up a test drive! We’ll take care of everything and get you behind the wheel in no time. You can also contact us or check out our Ford research for more information on the models in our lineup!