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Questions
Irony is defined as a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result. Explain the irony in this cartoon.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.
![](https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ElectricCars_Ramirez.jpg)
Cartoon by Michael Ramirez
Answers
One reason electric cars are purchased is to be “green” and help the environment by not burning gasoline (avoiding carbon emissions.)
However, 50% of electricity in the U.S. comes from coal-fired plants. So when an electric car is plugged into a wall outlet to charge its batteries, there’s a good chance that the electricity is coming from coal. (The irony: coal creates the same carbon emissions that they are trying to prevent by buying an electric car.)