Electric Vehicles Making Inroads, Area Environmental Group Notes
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An environmental group says electric vehicles are getting more attention from consumers, thereby cutting down on pollution.
An electric car charging station in the parking lot of the Barnes Foundation served as a backdrop today for Penn Environment's release of a report on the impact electric vehicles are having on the environment.
"Today, America has more than 220,000 electric vehicles on the road," said Penn Environment's Adam Garber (at lectern in photo). He says sales of electric cars have gone up by five hundred percent over the last two years.
"(By 2025), electric vehicles will prevent up to 552,000 metric tons of global warming pollution annually in Pennsylvania," he said today. "That would be the equivalent of saving more than 62 million gallons of gasoline a year."
And he says the trends are positive: prices for the vehicles are gradually coming down and work continues on the required infrastructure. Nationwide, the number of charging stations has increased tenfold over the past four years, to about 20,000.