Electric vehicles are essential in limiting global warming. Experts say they need a clean power grid to maximize their potential.

Electric vehicles are growing in political popularity, with President Biden's signing of the Inflation Reduction Act that invests $400 billion in energy security and fighting climate change and California's push to eliminate new sales of gas-powered cars. Just a simple switch to electric vehicles is crucial and significant in limiting fossil fuels and global warming, but without a clean power grid to back them up, they can't reach their full planet-saving potential. 

Sam Houston, a senior vehicles analyst for the clean transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told CBS News just how effective EVs can be.  

Passenger vehicles are one of the biggest sources of global warming emissions in the U.S., according to a July report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The group's analysis found that over the lifetime of an electric car – from the time it's manufactured to when it's disposed of – it will produce roughly half the global warming pollution than a comparable gas- or diesel-powered vehicle.