The choice is loosen the emission restrictions and allow more time to find alternatives. The Big Three have said consumers will reject the current crop of electric vehicles because they are too expensive and inefficient. Given time, they claim , the emission standards for fossil fuels vehicles, can drop to near zero. But without the time, they say they will abandon research. Critics have complained that environmentalists are myopic when it comes to electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles are zero emission producers.
The two per cent scheme will not effectively control pollution because it only transfers it from the car to the power station. Despite intensive research on how to power the vehicles, this remains one of the unresolved problems. Traditional lead-acid batteries appear to have the highest efficiency rates, but lead is one of the world's deadliest pollutants. Large amounts of lead are required to create the batteries needed to power huge numbers of electric cars. American researchers have suggested that emissions from mining, smelting and the recycling of this lead would expose thousands of people living or working close to production sites to near toxic levels of lead.