Y
ou don’t have to poke around the dingier corners
of the internet to wonder whether we’re barreling
toward a new Dark Age, where superstition once
again supplants science.
These might be strange days, indeed, on planet
Earth, but the vast and complex machinery of the
universe grinds on regardless, and our precious little blue
world is beholden to its laws, not our beliefs. Jump out
of a tree, and you’ll hit the ground. Travel in a straight
line, and you’ll eventually end up where you started. Put
more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and you’ll
change the climate.
There, I said it.
Climate change is a fact, not a political statement. If
you listen carefully, the climate change debate is not
a debate over a process that has been proven to be as
ancient and elemental as the planet itself. It’s a debate
about whether we contribute to it. And here the answer
is clear and inescapable.
Carbon dioxide is an inevitable byproduct of burning
fossil fuels. Coal, natural gas, diesel, jet-A, gasoline. EPA
numbers show the average light-duty passenger vehicle
in the U.S. emits more than 14 ounces
of carbon dioxide per mile traveled.
As of 2017 there were more than
270 million such vehicles on America’s
roads, and figures published by the U.S.
Energy Information Administration
show they collectively traveled more than 2.8 trillion
miles in just 2017. You do the math. Then multiply the
answer by four to get a rough idea of how much carbon
dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere each year by cars,
SUVs, and pickups around the globe.
Yeah, we contribute.
If you’re a member of MotorTrend Nation, then, like us,
you can’t imagine life without the automobile. It might be
more expensive, more regulated, and more complex than
ever, but the modern automobile is—with all its faults, its
capacity to maim and kill and congest and pollute—still
a wondrous thing, capable of transporting both bodyand soul, of delivering freedom and adventure beyond
the imagination of our ancestors a mere 150 years ago.
The problem is, there is no one vehicle or powertrain
concept that neatly solves the climate change conun-
drum, no silver bullet technology that’ll magically enable
us all to drive greener. And that includes electric vehicles,
because unless you’re plugging into a grid powered
entirely by nuclear, geothermal, or renewable energy
sources, the energy going into the battery has come from
burning fossil fuels.
For more than three decades now, people have been
asking me what sort of vehicle they should buy. My first
response has always been, “What do you want to use
it for?” Right tool, right job; it’s always been a sound
guiding principle when deciding on a daily driver. Today
it’s arguably more important than ever.
Not that long ago, almost everything on America’s
roads was powered by an internal combustion engine
that burned gasoline. Now you can buy vehicles with
mild and plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric powertrains, as
well as ones powered by diesels, electric motors, and even
hydrogen fuel cells. None is perfect. But used the right
way, each has the potential to help reduce the
automobile’s contribution to climate change.
If you live in a crowded urban area and
have a regular commute in heavy stop-and-go
traffic, then an electric vehicle, whose highly
efficient motors only use energy when the
vehicle actually moves, makes a lot of sense as a daily
driver. If you regularly cruise long distances on the
interstates, the much-maligned diesel, which is extremely
efficient at constant throttle, is a good option. The best
all-arounder? The gas-electric plug-in hybrid, coming
versions of which will offer up to 60 miles of pure electric
range around town and, thanks to motor assistance, the
efficiency of a diesel on the highway.
Yes, a plug-in hybrid is heavy and not the most effi-
ciently packaged, because you have to carry around a
battery as well as an internal combustion engine. But
right now, it’s probably the closest thing we have to an
automotive Leatherman. QNEWS I OPINION I GOSSIP I STUFF
There’s No Silver Bullet When
It Comes to Driving Green
Angus MacKenzie
The Big Picture
86 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2020