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I've written before about electric vehicles' dirty little secrets.
At first glance, one would imagine they are perfectly clean, but that is far from the case - from the materials used in production to the source of electric supply.
These facts have been further corroborated in a recent study by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology that found electric vehicle plants emitted more toxic waste than factories producing vehicles powered by the traditional internal combustion engine and that greenhouse gases rose substantially if the source of re-charging was coal-fired power stations.
Looking at the whole-life cycle, the production phase for EVs has twice the global warming impact than that of conventional vehicles.
And the production of batteries and electric motors involves the extraction and use of precious metals and toxic minerals with further impact negatively on the environment.
In terms of resultant acid rain, airborne particulate matter, depletion of fossil fuel and mineral resources, ecosystem toxicity, human toxicity and smog, EV production is consistently worse than or equal to that of conventional vehicle production.
And if they are then charged from a fossil fuel-powered electric grid, their higher environmental impact is only set to rise further.
Only if EVs are charged from low-carbon electricity sources, such as nuclear power stations, can they then offer the potential for major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and exposure to exhaust pollutants.
So EVs are definitely not as green as they would appear to be, and their immediate future would not appear to be bright either.
The world's largest car producer, Toyota, has declared that the markets are not yet ready for mass production of EVs.
According to the company, there are too many drawbacks at present, all well known, such as limited range, lack of proper charging infrastructures, time to recharge and overall cost.
Having invested heavily in hybrid vehicles, Toyota unsurprisingly believes these types of vehicle offer the best solution in the short to medium term, especially in plug-in form, which offers the best of both worlds without any drawbacks.
The versatility of petrol and diesel plug-in hybrids meets current market needs as practical low-emission vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Government's Plug-In Car Grant has proven pathetically ineffective with the latest number of electric cars to benefit from funding representing a staggeringly low 2311 to date.
Was it all worthwhile, especially given the Government's totally ambivalent approach to EVs in general? The answer? A definite no. Even a Transport Committee report has been highly critical of the Government's attempts to support EVs.
From a pool of £300m earmarked for EV support, a trifling £11.5m has been claimed with £8.6m being paid out to businesses using EVs as demonstrators or as green flag-wavers.
The claim by Government that there will be tens of thousands of EVs on the roads by 2015 is clearly risible, especially as in April that year it will pull the plug on the £5000 electric car and £8000 electric van grants.
So the electric vehicle is far from the panacea it was portrayed to be at the start of the decade.
It will feature on our roads, but only in very limited numbers.
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