Really?? This incovenient truth has been dusted under the carpet. Never mind the ecological damage caused by mining of materials for the batteries*, the short life-span of the batteries and the thumping deterioration of a car when it gets close to the time when such an expensive (probably) component needs replacing.
*this is a pretty ill-informed comment but I did read it somewhere. Can someone informed clarify?
As with many of these things, the definitive answer is hard to come by and rather depends on the way in which you ask the questions and how you do your counting.
It's generally reckoned that making *any* new car is way more polluting than not scrapping a 10 year old one. Never mind if it's electric (batteries are horrid) or petrol. However, it's really needed that we make progress in these areas, so the weighting is in favour of the 'green' options. As the technology improves, they will eventually become cleaner, cheaper, better ranged etc etc.
Bit like why on earth would anyone buy one of the new fangled automobiles? Horses are cheaper, last longer and you don't need to find a chemist every 20 miles....
C
