By Rashidat Oladele
Claim: There has been claims that electric cars are a myth as they don’t impact carbon emissions.
A publication on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) site https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electric-vehicle-myths deals on electric car myths. It also presents fact to counter the points .
On the page, there are lots of publications about electric cars and their effect on climate, environment, and human capability.
These are the myths:
- Myth #1: Electric cars leave a bigger carbon footprint
- Myth #2: Electric cars don’t have enough range
- Myth #3: Charging stations are not readily available
- Myth #4: Battery manufacturing is worse for the environment than gasoline cars
- Myth #5: I won’t save money since my electric bill will go up
- Myth #6: The grid can’t handle too many new electric cars
- Myth #7: Electric cars are not as safe as gasoline-powered
- Myth #8: Electric vehicle batteries will end up in landfills
- Myth #9: Electric cars are too expensive
- Myth #10: Electric cars only come in sedan models
- Myth #11: There isn’t enough lithium to make Electric vehicles batteries
- Myth #12: Electric cars can’t charge with clean energy
NatureNews, Africa’s foremost news publications which is dedicated to providing accurate insights to stop the spread of fake news particularly among users of social media, subjected the claim to fact checking by NatureFact, the fact checking unit of NatureNews Africa.
Findings: Using the Google search tool in conducting this research, a few papers and studies were accessed. These include:
https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-21-misleading-myths-about-electric-vehicles/
https://www.mynrma.com.au/electric-vehicles/basics/ev-myths
https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/future/the-mother-of-reinvention/electric-vehicle-myths-and-facts
https://www.racv.com.au/royalauto/transport/electric-vehicles/electric-vehicle-myths.html
Verdict: Misleading. The misconception concerning electric vehicles is based only on false presumptions, since the vehicle’s innovation is to reduce gas emissions rather than the pollution caused by modern gas-powered automobiles.
