Giving Compass' Take:

• David M. Hart at GreenBiz examines some challenges in transitioning from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles and how to pursue a more measured approach for environmental, economic and political reasons. 

• What can donors do to get these potential policies off the ground? How can your city be adapted to facilitate greener transportation options?

• Here's why shifting to electric vehicles could drive the Green New Deal forward. 

Climate plans are the order of the day in the presidential primary campaign because carbon pollution is a global threat of unique proportions. But it’s worth asking whether candidates’ plans are based in the reality of the climate, the economy and the election.

All three dimensions must come together for any climate plan to achieve its goals — and this is especially true when the subject is electric vehicles. There is no point in putting forward an EV plan that is so aggressive that it cannot be implemented even under the most auspicious economic circumstances. Nor is there a point in advancing an EV plan that would not yield significant climate benefits. And, if such a plan might hurt a candidate’s chances in the election, it would be worse than pointless.

Even if the EV transition were to move as rapidly as the most aggressive plans call for, it would not necessarily maximize benefits for the climate.

Following the lead of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who dropped out of the race earlier this fall, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren said they would require all passenger cars sold in the United States to be zero-emissions by 2030, while Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg (PDF) set a 2035 deadline.

Read the full article about electric cars in America by David M. Hart at GreenBiz.