Electric cars may not bring about a lower carbon footprint

It is not necessary that electric cars will always lead to a lower carbon footprint. There will be a huge increase in the demand for metals -- up to 50% -- once batteries take over. Then again, electric vehicles will not reduce greenhouse emissions if coal fired electricity is used to charge the batteries. Aggressive electrification while underlying electricity generation still relies on coal and oil may lead to an increase rather than a decrease in environment impacts and natural resource pressures.Further, even if efficient technologies do come in, if there is an increase in demand for such services as a result, there will be a "rebound effect", with a larger environmental footprint even if there is an overall decline in energy consumption.

Source: Indian PetroPlus