More Environmental Symbolism: Electric Cars that Aren't So Green

Next time some super environmentalist green weenie looks down his/her nose at your Explorer or F-150, you might offer up the insights found in this Prager U. article from Bjorn Lomborg Are Electric Cars Really Green?

So throughout the full life of an electric car, it will emit just three to five tons less CO2. In Europe, on its European Trading System, it currently costs $7 to cut one ton of CO2. So the entire climate benefit of an electric car is about $35. Yet the U.S. federal government essentially provides electric car buyers with a subsidy of up to $7,500.

Paying $7,500 for something you could get for $35 is a very poor deal. And that doesn’t include the billions more in federal and state grants, loans and tax write-offs that go directly to battery and electric-car makers

But it's for the environment! And it's the government offering those subsidies! Which means for the slow learners among you, that you - the taxpayer - are getting a bad deal. Puts a whole new light on the term "charging station" for electric cars, doesn't it?

Go figure.

But the "environmental symbolism?" Priceless.

You want to make electric cars more green? Build more nuclear power plants to replace the coal plants that now provide the electricity to charge the darn things.