March 20, 2015

Electric vehicles have gotten a lot of support because they have the potential to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Now it seems these cars may have another benefit—cooler cities

 

A conventional gasoline engine is incredibly inefficient. Most of the energy produced by the tiny explosions inside is actually lost as heat. The engine that runs an electric car, by contrast, is much more efficient and loses far less energy to heat. The difference is enough that if all the cars in Beijing were replaced with electric versions, the city would be almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in summer, researchers conclude today in Scientific Reports.