Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Electric Cars

Traffic through the Sepulveda Pass in Southern California became worse after a highway widening project. Photo:

Op-Ed: Fed Transport Policy Undermines Climate Progress

By Emily Mangan | Sep 18, 2019 | 1 Comment

Democrats and Republicans remain deeply committed to antiquated policy that undermines any action we take on climate change: spending billions to build new highways, encouraging more and more driving.

Can the driverless cars of the future be bent into an opportunity to prioritize people? NACTO hopes so. Image: IPAM, UCLA

City Officials Seek To Mold the Future of Driverless Cars

By Aaron Short | Sep 10, 2019 | 1 Comment

Using autonomous vehicles as a chance to shape streets for people.

Talking Headways Podcast: California Über Alles

By Tanya Snyder | May 1, 2014 | 2 Comments

Welcome to our all-California, all-the-time episode of the Talking Headways podcast. We start with a statewide debate over whether $60,000+ Teslas should qualify for tax breaks — or whether any electric vehicles should get tax breaks. Then on to the conversation about how California’s cap-and-trade dollars should be spent. One proposal, from the State Senate leader, […]

The Exaggerated Benefits of Electric Cars

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 1, 2013 | 60 Comments

Just how green are electric vehicles? Ozzie Zehner, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, says it’s not as clear-cut as we generally assume. In an article published in Spectrum, the news arm of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Zehner notes that researchers have come to some widely divergent conclusions. Industry-funded research tends to […]

Obama’s Clean Energy Policy Elevates Efficient Cars Over Efficient Modes

By Tanya Snyder | Mar 18, 2013 | 4 Comments

It has a nice ring to it: using oil and gas revenue to shift transportation off oil and gas dependence. President Obama announced a plan to do just that on Friday — but the details of his plan are disappointing if you want to see the conversation on clean transportation go beyond cars. The Energy Security […]

Study: Electric Cars Not So Green Unless Powered by Renewables

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 5, 2012 | 16 Comments

A study by the government of the Australian state of Victoria highlights the limits of electric cars, in isolation, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Victorian government’s ongoing “electric vehicle trial” [PDF] found that electric cars powered by coal may actually produce more carbon emissions than petroleum-fueled cars over the lifetime of the vehicle, from manufacturing […]