Environmentalist: Traditional hybrids still better choices than all-electric cars

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Those looking to buy cars will have heard a lot about new all-electric cars like the Chevy Volt, the environmental blog Tainted Green says, but they should opt instead for more traditional hybrids.

While it may seem the environmental impact from an all-electric car is necessarily smaller than that of a gas-electric hybrid, Tainted Green notes that this fails to account for the pollution generated by fossil-fuel plants which will power many electric vehicles. The absence of a gasoline engine is frequently more than offset by the need to charge the battery from dirty energy sources, whereas traditional hybrids generate their own battery power.

Additionally, it's still unclear which type of propulsion system will be cheaper to operate, the blog says. Until regulations standardize electric pricing, it could easily cost a motorist more to operate a plug-in vehicle than, for example, a Toyota Prius.

Nevertheless, some experts see electric cars taking over the U.S. market as soon as 2020.

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