We all want clean air. Hickenlooper and Polis probably believe battery cars advance the goal. No credible evidence suggests they do any such thing.

The IFO study concludes the CO2 emissions from battery cars are “in the best case, slightly higher than those of a diesel engine, and are otherwise much higher.”

That could explain at least part of the reason California’s air quality has gone down since the state forced the sale of more battery cars.

The institute’s study included everything that emits CO2 from the moment production of the vehicle’s energy source begins. When accounting for the emissions involved in producing diesel fuel and emissions involved in producing mining-intensive battery production, the Tesla Model 3 in Germany (battery car) emitted up to 181 grams of CO2 per kilometer – including emissions involved in producing kilowatts for the battery. That compares to 141 grams of CO2s produced by the diesel-powered Mercedes C22d.

A 2018 study by the Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Berylls Strategy Advisors came to a similar conclusion, citing the extraordinary amount of carbon pollution caused by the production of lithium-ion batteries. The research concluded the average vehicle owner in Germany could drive a conventional car more than 31,000 miles before catching up to the emissions caused by a Nissan Leaf battery car.

The New York-based Manhattan Institute in 2018 came to the conclusion Elective Vehicles produce more CO2 pollution than new gasoline vehicles.

“Today’s vehicles emit only about 1 percent of the pollution than they did in the 1960s, and new innovations continue to improve those engines’ efficiency and cleanliness,” said economist Jonathan Lesser, who authored the Manhattan Institute study.

In addition to the pollution they cause, electric car owners should know about the social injustice their vehicles cause around the globe.

“The extraction of essential ingredients to make cost-effective lithium-ion batteries generally leaves environmental and human devastation in its wake,” explains an article published by Green Tech Media.