How is electric cars any better for the environment when coal is the primary energy source? thats greener?

I saw an article recently comparing EVs to hybrids. The conclusion was that if you were in California or the Pacific Northwest (among others) where electrical power comes from natural gas or hydro (or other clean sources) then Yes, an EV is cleaner.

But if you were in the deep South or Midwest where power does indeed come from coal, then the hybrid is better.

Most honest studies I have looked at show the EV is still 15-20% less polluting even when the electric power is produced from coal, when compared to a comparable gas engine car. Still does nothing to offset the initial cost and short range between charge problems.

Electric cars produce no emissions. They are a device that is sometimes attached to an electrical system. The nuances of this can be too complex for some and this makes it easy to jump to wrong conclusions.

In the second 1/2 of this entertaining 10 minute pilot for the program Fully Charged Robert Llewellyn discusses this and other misconceptions. He concludes that the EV is 10 times less polluting than an ICE vehicle.2 I have crunched the numbers in my answer here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ag7Bu... and more conservatively concluded that the EV is at least twice as good as the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle.

Some facts that are often "misplaced" include:

--Pollution is determined by miles traveled. The electric vehicle is about 6 times more efficient than ICE vehicles.1

--Approximately 4 to 7.5 KW-hr is required per gallon to refine crude oil into gasoline.2

--In the US Coal is only 45% of the energy mix. In California it is only about 16% and therefore not even the "primary" source.3

--Coal fired electric plants are base load plants and the 1 pound of coal burned to one KW-hr ratio that may be appropriate for day time charging of electric vehicles does not hold for night time charging.4