According to a new study published by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), battery electric buses have lower global warming  than diesel buses everywhere in the country. A common argument against electric vehicles is that even though they reduce tailpipe emissions, they cannot reduce greenhouse gas emissions that much because they are reliant on the electric grid, which is mostly based on dirty power. However, the UCS looked at life cycle global warming emissions comparing the two types of buses and found that battery electric buses release far less emissions compared to the diesel and natural gas buses, even after factoring in the emissions released from power generation.

Not only do these buses have less emissions now, but the emissions are constantly decreasing as the renewable energy sector grows. The USC also looked at how geography plays a role in the comparison. Battery electric buses range from 1.4 to 7.7 times better than a diesel bus, as shown in miles per gallon emissions-equivalency. Another way of saying this is that a diesel bus has nearly 1½ to 8 times the global warming emissions as an electric bus, depending on power generation in the region.

To see the references and learn more about the USC study, Read the full article.