system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What is the environmental benefit to purchasing a Nissan Leaf if the grid is charged on is powered by fossil fuels?

Suppose my house gets power from an oil powerplant?  Any way we could compare this to the Toyota Corolla?  What would be the net difference on pollutants to the environment?  While the Nissan Leaf itself doesn't pollute very much for driving 30 miles, I assume recharging it for 30 miles creates some pollutants from the power plant.

What if it's hooked up to a coal power plant?  Same questions.

I was told by someone that powerplants are, at best, 50% efficient.  Are cars any better?
gpt
There are 3 benefits:

* First of all, power plants as extremely efficient (compared to your car engine). The reason being that they are built to run at a specific RPM and a specific temperature and constant (almost) output etc. Car engines, on the other hand, are very inefficient - below 30% of power plants - because they have to give bursts of power, are still running when you don't need power, vary in operation temperatures and, well,  are just smaller and cheaper. So **creating the same amount of energy produces much less pollution** in power plants. Much much less.

* A power plant is easier to upgrade - immediately upgrading the environmental benefits of all electric cars. Upgrading all the cars in the world is much more difficult. So, even if right now the electric car pollute because of the coal plant, once more solar panels are installed (for example) **all** the electric cars become "less polluting" all of a sudden

* The pollution of power plants is "out of the way" - usually the plants are built outside of residential areas, and they have these huge "chimneys" that move the pollution up and out of reach. Pollution from cars are, on the other hand, right in the cities, right in the residential areas. Kids (and adults...) breath this pollution when going to school, opening a window at home, playing around in parks. So even if both methods polluted the same - just having electric cars makes the streets and parks and homes less polluted.