The amount of energy used by coal fired power stations to create the electricity to recharge electric vehicles makes them half as efficient as diesel cars, according to the research.

Britain’s carbon emissions could even go up if there is a sudden surge in demand for electric cars, the new research warned.

It will call into question a £250 million government scheme announced last week offering consumers £5,000 subsidies to buy a new electric car.

The research conducted by the group Transport Watch found that diesel powered vehicles emit approximately half as much CO2 as electric cars when the use of fossil fuels to produce electricity is taken into account.

The research paper says: “We conclude that the notion that electric cars will reduce emissions is a fiction.”

Factors making the rechargeable cars less efficient include the amount of electricity lost on the journey between the coal fired power stations which generate it and the point where it recharges the car, and the energy lost by the batteries and the motor. Read More

Not only the price of a car would go sky high, but then the carbon tax would be much higher and the Obama government would get more of Americans tax money to waste on pet projects. We don’t have to be an engineer or professor to understand that the electric cars is the wrong way to go.