In article , Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Could someone explain to me how electric cars reduce congestion?

Electric cars reduce congestion by being small and over-priced, so there
are fewer of them :-)

More seriously, they're generally more efficient in stop-start traffic
than IC engines (no idling), and less polluting at the point of use
(including quieter), so the same amount of congestion has less adverse
effect (cleaner air for pedestrians beside the road).

(There'll be a fossil fuel power station somewhere, but it's easier to
put filters, electrostatic scrubbers etc., on a power station than a
car, and the power station isn't in the middle of a high concentration
of people, the congested roads are.)


My feeling is they increase it by moving so slowly.

Average speed of London traffic is much the same as when it was horse
powered, so that's not a real problem.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/n...than_chickens/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smeed%2...ongested_roads

(Obviously other factors like tolls and charges have the potential to change
the level at which road users are discouraged, but it looks like the current
charge doesn't make that much difference.)