There’s no question. Someone earlier mentioned that you have to look at it from “well to wheel”, that is, what was the carbon created when you generated that electricity, as well as when you used it? From a Canadian context, when I look abroad to other jurisdictions, 70% of the electric energy in Canada has very low greenhouse gas emissions. The reality is that when we look at the highly populated regions of Canada—B.C., Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba as a secondary market—those regions have an extremely high, if not almost exclusive, production of electricity by hydroelectric and other means, which have virtually zero emissions. In those provinces, a Chevrolet Volt running on electricity emits 1/15th the greenhouse gas emissions on average in Ontario today, even with the coal-fired plants that are still being wound down, than the most efficient gasoline vehicle on the market. The potential for greenhouse gas reduction from electric vehicles in the Canadian context, given our very green electricity electrons, is quite staggering.
On February 28th, 2013. See this statement in context.