Many variables determine the level of emissions resulting from driving an electric vehicle compared to an equivalent combustion engine car. A new study says that driving an EV will produce lower emissions in most parts of the United States—this was not the case over 10 years ago when the first study of this type was published. The Union of Concerned Scientists first published an analysis of the relative emissions of EVs driven in the US back in 2012 and their impact on the climate.
This could be improved further if all EVs were smaller and more efficient because there are plenty of electron guzzlers on the road these days that bring the average down—there is an acute lack of small, frugal and affordable EVs in the US. How efficient the theoretical EV in question is has a big impact on a region’s efficiency rating.