The weight of the scientific evidence refutes the claim that electric cars are worse for the environment. While manufacturing electric vehicles and producing their batteries can entail higher initial resource extraction and emissions, comprehensive life-cycle assessments demonstrate that electric vehicles ultimately result in lower overall greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints compared to gas-powered cars.
The retrieved literature contains multiple comprehensive life-cycle assessments evaluating the environmental impacts of electric vehicles versus internal combustion engine vehicles. While a minority of studies (such as papers [4] and [7]) highlight higher initial cradle-to-gate impacts or manufacturing burdens for electric vehicles, the majority of robust life-cycle assessments (papers [0], [1], [5], [6], and [11]) conclude that electric vehicles achieve lower overall greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints during their operational and total life cycles. Consequently, the claim is refuted by the balance of evidence.