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Comment by brainwad | Hacker News Reader

Also electric power generation is dirtier in Poland (still lots of coal), so the relative emissions benefit is lower.

If the power is generated by burning coal and after transmission efficiency losses etc, gasoline cars could actually be better for the environment.

I think I've seen studies that they still aren't. ICE are really (thermally) inefficient.

Most people don't worry so much about thermal efficiency and care more about cost per mile..

If I could buy a type of vehicle that was only 10% thermally efficient but the fuel was practically free, that would be pretty cost effective even if not thermally efficient.

If it's 100% coal, then yes, otherwise EVs are better. And since the grids are moving to renewables all over the world, it will continue to get better.

Even it's 100% coal the EV's are generally better. But it's close enough to equal that you can bias the comparison either way through vehicle choice. The standard mechanism was to choose one of those horribly inefficient compliance vehicles manufacturers created by putting an electric engine in a gas car frame. "It's a fair comparison because it's the same car". Choosing an EV 1000 pounds heavier than a purpose built EV will make the gas car look good.

It's not even the weight of the EV but mostly how you calculate CO2 of the EV manufacturing part (which is usually higher than that of ICE). That combined with high-coal electricity generation pushes the lifetime CO2 break-even point further away.

Once EV manufacturing is decarbonised (which is I assume ongoing) this will be moot too.

It would want to be either a _terrible_ coal plant or a _terrible_ transmission network or both. Internal combustion engines are brutally inefficient next to big thermal plants.

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