'Electric cars not eco-friendly'

London, Apr. 19 (ANI): The environmental benefits of electric cars are as good as none, a new research has revealed.

Dismissing the environmental benefits of electric cars as "fiction", Transport Watch group denounced inclusion of electric cars into green methods of transport.

The research paper says: "We conclude that the notion that electric cars will reduce emissions is a fiction." According to the research, the amount of energy used by coal fired power stations to create the electricity to recharge electric vehicles makes them half as efficient as diesel cars.

Diesel powered vehicles emit approximately half as much CO2 as electric cars when the use of fossil fuels to produce electricity is taken into account.

The research further warned that Britain's carbon emissions could even go up if there is a sudden surge in demand for electric cars.

The findings even questions the 250 million pound government scheme, which offers 5,000 pound subsidies to buy a new electric car, the Telegraph reports.

Paul Withrington of Transport Watch said: "The government should re-examine their assumptions and should not encourage this until they have decarbonised the generating industry. At the moment, it is nuts. If you bought an electric car now you would be looking at generating the same amount of carbon or more."

Factors making the rechargeable cars less efficient include the amount of electricity lost on the journey between the coal fired power stations which generate it and the point where it recharges the car, and the energy lost by the batteries and the motor.

The researchers calculated that of the energy burned in a power station, only a quarter reaches an electric car after leakages and losses along the supply chain are considered, giving the vehicle an energy efficiency score of 24%.

A modern diesel engine, by contrast, achieves 45% efficiency. (ANI)