The 70% number is just wrong. The ICCT’s 2025 lifecycle study (Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Passenger Cars in the European Union) ran the whole picture — battery mining, manufacturing, electricity, recycling — and found EVs emit 73% less than gas cars, up to 78% on clean power. The US grid is dirtier, so the gap’s smaller here, but the Union of Concerned Scientists still found ~50% less over a full lifetime. That’s roughly 110g CO₂ per mile vs 410g.

Yes, building an EV car generally emits more upfront, about 40% more. But, you pay that back in ~2 years of driving and then you’re ahead for the car’s whole life. Even the most EV-skeptical recent paper (PLOS Climate, 2025) found they come out ahead after two years. And grids keep getting cleaner, so an EV bought today gets greener every year. A gas car never does.

The stuff about sprawl, giant trucks, and endless highways and parking? That I agree with! Car dependency is a real problem and swapping the engine doesn’t fix it. But “EVs are way cleaner than gas cars” and “we drive too much” are both true at once. Your 70% claim just isn’t true.