EV proliferation
Teslas are pretty popular here in Rhode Island. While that appears virtuous, it’s important to recall that 95% of Rhode Island electricity comes from natural gas, so those Teslas are running on fossil fuel.
EVs are proliferating all over the planet:
“Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Car News China reports that in the first half of 2025, consumers in that country bought 10,891,000 passenger vehicles. But here’s the catch. They bought 5,458,000 EVs and 5,433,000 gasoline cars. Look carefully at those numbers. They bought more EVs than internal combustion engine cars. To be precise, 50.1% of new cars bought in China this year were battery electric or plug-in hybrid.”
While China is also pursuing a green energy policy, 60% of electricity in China comes from coal. On the other hand, China has a more robust public transportation structure than the US, and is building that out rapidly. But China is also gaining in the EV export market.
While Xi’s China is moving to a greener future, Trump’s America is canceling it here. Loss for America. Loss for the planet.
China’s growing EV production
EVs are proliferating all over the planet:
“Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Car News China reports that in the first half of 2025, consumers in that country bought 10,891,000 passenger vehicles. But here’s the catch. They bought 5,458,000 EVs and 5,433,000 gasoline cars. Look carefully at those numbers. They bought more EVs than internal combustion engine cars. To be precise, 50.1% of new cars bought in China this year were battery electric or plug-in hybrid.”
While China is also pursuing a green energy policy, 60% of electricity in China comes from coal. On the other hand, China has a more robust public transportation structure than the US, and is building that out rapidly. But China is also gaining in the EV export market.
While Xi’s China is moving to a greener future, Trump’s America is canceling it here. Loss for America. Loss for the planet.
China’s growing EV production
I read about the projected growth of electricity demand driven by data centers and think the timing in America of moving strongly away from liquid hydrocarbon-powered ground transportation is moving off into the future. Maybe only a decade, not a century. I look at the market cap of tech versus auto manufacturers and am guessing tech will be getting the bulk of incremental power production for many years. However one can hope AI will evolve fairly quickly to a lower consumption of electricity. I’d imagine that every AI firm is working on that as a competitive advantage.
Mile for mile they burn a lot less natural gas than ICEs. Two and half years after buying one I’m still penciling it out, but an ICE Mini gets about 30 miles to the gallon of gasoline: my eMini gets about 300 miles to the gallon of natural gas used to generate the electricity to charge it
I have argued that but for an unfortunate incident Tesla in its inception was a good thing: put American-made electric cars on American roads, but don’t confuse me for a fan
Apples and onions …
There seems to be a huge disparity in information about China’s sources of electric power: “The newly installed capacity of renewable energy in 2024 accounted for 86 percent of China’s total newly installed power capacity, while the cumulative installed capacity of renewable energy made up a record high of 56 percent of the nation’s total, according to new data from the National Energy Administration (NEA).” Renewable energy accounts for 56 pct of China’s total installed capacity
Of course we are encouraged to believe that data coming from China, our enemy, is entirely suspect while data coming from the “good guys” (USA) is beyond reproach!?!
IMO China should be lauded for its amazing progress in implementing renewable power and EVs; the US should be shamed for dragging its oil-soaked feet…
@Joel
While you are correct that EVs are really running on fossil fuels, you are still not getting your analysis right.
Internal compression engines are much less efficient than natural gas power plants. Even after accounting for transmission line losses, electric motor losses, and the increased mass associated with the battery, EVs are more efficient. The centralized power production, not the electrical motors, is actually the key factor.
One could argue that claiming the large electric SUV is virtue signaling, but I would just call it self-delusion. A small gas car certainly can be more efficient that a large EV.
While EVs are a more efficient use of fossil fuels (as explained in other comments) they are not necessarily more cost effective. I have a PHEV. The cost of electricity is 31 cents per kWh in Connecticut. Gas is under $3 per gallon. It is actually cheaper to run it on gas. I also have solar panels that generate about 50% more than my house consumes. The excess accumulates indefinitely as credits on my electric bill. I could use them to charge my car but I have decided to burn gas and run up my credits in case gas prices go up in the future.