The U.S. electric vehicle, or EV, industry has witnessed impressive growth over the last decade. While still a small share of car purchases, EVs are becoming a familiar sight on American roads. Nearly every major auto manufacturer now offers at least one plug-in electric vehicle, or PEV, model and thousands of consumers, in some key markets, are purchasing them.
The benefits of EVs are wide-ranging and offer potential for long-term structural reductions in local air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum consumption. In geographic areas that use relatively low-polluting energy sources for electricity generation, EVs have a well-to-wheel emissions—meaning all emissions related to fuel production, processing, distribution and use—advantage over similar conventional vehicles running on gasoline or diesel. In addition, EVs can have significantly lower fuel costs and total costs of ownership compared to gasoline-powered vehicles.
