Does Your ‘Zero-Emissions’ Vehicle Really Offer the Lowest Emissions?

In recent years, the conversations surrounding the future of sustainable transportation have centered around two buzzwords: zero emissions. Those buzzwords have gained so much traction, that local and federal regulations are focusing on transitioning fleets to only zero-emissions vehicles in the next 10-20 years. While there are certainly good intentions behind these regulations, they may also be misguided.

That is, there is certainly more to vehicle emissions than measuring only what is produced at the tailpipe.

A new study produced in cooperation with the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) looks at all the steps involved in providing fuel for electric vehicles, which many states are looking to as a way to quickly reduce emissions in medium- and heavy-duty (MD-HD) fleet vehicles. As the study explains, there is no such thing as a fully zero-emissions vehicle.