Electric cars aren't as green as you think they are

B.C. Premier Christy Clark arrives at an announcement about incentives for electric cars. (Glen Kugelstadt/CBC)

[Editor's note: you can listen to this episode here: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/electric-cars-aren-t-green-pot-is-still-a-drug-and-we-need-to-rethink-the-canoe-1.3475291/electric-cars-aren-t-as-green-as-you-think-they-are-1.3475389 ]

The government of British Columbia just announced new incentives for electric car owners, who will now be allowed to use HOV lanes, even with no passengers.

"People in those cars, I think, deserve a little more incentive for what they're doing for our environment," said B.C. premier Christy Clark. 

A subsidy to electric cars is ultimately a subsidy to car culture.- Ozzie Zehner

But Ozzie Zehner, author of "Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism," argues subsidies for electric cars are the wrong approach. He says electric cars are a form of denial that encourage everything that's wrong with car culture: urban sprawl, overconsumption, and community division. 

Shifting from gasoline or petrol cars to electric cars is like switching a smoking habit from cloves to menthols. It isn't acceptable for doctors to promote menthol cigarettes, so should environmentally-minded people... or politicians promote alternative fuel cars? Of course not. It's ludicrous. -Ozzie Zehner

He encourages governments to focus on creating walkable neighbourhoods and improving bicycle infrastructure instead.