Glenn Doty, one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known, has a wide panorama of arguments as to why EVs are bad for the environment. In response to those who say that many EV buyers nowadays also buy solar PV to charge them, and thus their cars will never be connected to the grid, Glenn says:
I have great respect for those who buy solar power systems for their home in order to offset the burden of their EV. My problem is that I have equal respect for those who buy solar panels to offset their ICEV. Or those that just invest in wind farms in the Midwest, or in aforestation projects in Africa and Brazil… The atmosphere doesn’t really make a distinction: In both cases, there is a burden, and in both cases there is a purchased offset for that burden.
I’ve spent the last few minutes milling around my office chewing on this. I find it hard to agree. Yes, the environment would be better off right this minute without electric vehicles, regardless of how much or how little PV is installed (though there are many other reasons to support EVs).
But let’s examine what happens in the real world of transportation choices. A guy goes into a car dealership and says to himself, “I’m opening my checkbook—extra wide. Instead of a $30K LEAF, I’m going to buy a $45K LEAF (a LEAF with a 5kW PV array on a canopy), and I’m doing that so that the car I’m buying will have very close to zero environmental impact.” He wouldn’t have a PV canopy in his driveway if he didn’t have an EV.
He may have PV on his roof already — or he may not. Maybe he stays away from single-use plastic bags—or maybe he eats Big Macs or poaches rhinos. None of this matters in this context. He’s just made a car purchase, and paid extra for it, specifically so that his mode of transportation will not burn coal. Simultaneously (as I note in the article linked above), he’s probably also motivated by the fact that his decision to purchase an EV has numerous side benefits, e.g., it does not enrich terrorists and it does not encourage and empower the oil companies that are apparently more than happy to ruin our planet.
