Study finds hybrids way dirtier than EVs, still better than ICE cars

The U.S.-based International Council of Clean Transportation has conducted a study to compare the negative impact on nature from completely and partially electric vehicles.

The main conclusion is that the average hybrid passenger car tends to produce 2.2 times more harmful substances throughout its lifetime than a comparable all-electric car. The difference is even bigger in the SUV segment with part-electric SUVs being allegedly 2.5 times as bad for the nature as their full-on electric cousins.

Even considering the plug-in hybrids alone, they are apparently nearly twice as bad as EVs. You’d think having a rechargeable battery should help with minimizing the impact, but it may not go as far as we’d hoped.

For perspective, ICCT points out that traditional SUVs running on fossil fuels tend to be 3.5 times as environmentally harming as their electric counterparts.