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Environmental Benefits

Mobility underlies much of our social and economic development.  Modern transportation has raised living standards and yielded a highly interconnected global economy.  For the past century the reliable internal combustion engine, fueled by relatively cheap petroleum, has powered transportation.  But societal costs of petroleum-based transportation are becoming more evident.

The risk is clear.  Unless we transition to electric-drive, California’s air quality and public health will continue to suffer, climate change will continue to threaten the state’s ecosystems and economy, oil imports will continue to exacerbate trade deficits, and the economy will remain vulnerable to petroleum price spikes.  In a competitive global economy, California can no longer afford to depend so highly on distant, unreliable fuel supplies. (source: PEVC Taking Charge report)

PEVs Dramatically Lower Smog and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Californians drive 825 million miles every day – producing 5.4 million tons of smog forming pollutants and more than 350,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions daily. Since more than 50% of California's total smog pollution and 38% greenhouse gas pollution comes from motor vehicles - your car is a good place to start cleaning things up. If that’s not bad enough, more than 95% of Californians live in areas that fail to meet federal or state air quality standards - a rapidly increasing health hazard to you, your children, their children, and so on.

California and the world are already seeing the impacts of climate change – rising sea levels, shrinking snowpack, extreme drought and increased wildfires, threatened cultures and other dangers. We need to begin now to avoid more substantial, more disruptive and more expensive change in the future.

You can make a difference now by driving a Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PEV). PEVs when driven on electircity offer zero tailpipe emissions. PEVs dramatically lower smog and greenhouse gas emissions even when you take into account the emissions from production, distribution, and refining of fuels and the generation of electricity.

Source: How do PEVs Benefit California?

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