Posted on 12/18/2014 1:03:43 PM PST by SeekAndFind
In a new study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences University of Minnesota researchers report in various scenarios that vehicles using alternative fuels are often more harmful to human health than are conventional gasoline-powered automobiles. From the abstract:
We find that powering vehicles with corn ethanol or with coal-based or “grid average” electricity increases monetized environmental health impacts by 80% or more relative to using conventional gasoline.
PNAS
The AP reported:
"It's kind of hard to beat gasoline" for public and environmental health, said study co-author Julian Marshall, an engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. "A lot of the technologies that we think of as being clean ... are not better than gasoline."
Not surprsingly, the study does find that vehicles powered by electricity derived from wind and solar power have the least health effects. Keep in mind, however, that solar provided 0.23 percent and wind 4.13 percent of U.S. electricity in 2013.
I travel by road a good bit and have never seen a charging station.
I have never seen a shop that sells parts for Teslas.
I have never seen an authorized repair station, or even a shade tree shop that works on Teslas.
I have never met or heard of anyone that is factory trained to work on Teslas.
It may be God’s gift to mankind, but is just not practical now, and that is with huge government cash thrown at each and every one that rolls off the soldering station.
As Jim Quinn astutely pointed out when he was still doing a daily talk show....these are essentially coal-powered cars.
When someone makes an EV that’ll pull my 7,000 pound boat for 200 miles on a charge and it’ll recharge fully in 10 minutes and cost less than 35 grand maybe I’ll have a look. Otherwise these things are a waste of good sheet metal.
Yep. Electric cars burn ethanol, coal, and increasingly, natural gas through power plants. And the more electric cars running on natural gas, the higher natural gas heating bills will go. And installing enough PV solar power to charge an electric vehicle: not recommended.
No surprise here.
yes...and it takes a level of stupidity to be smug about being stupid. Someone paid for a study to figure that the electricity has to be produced, transported and stored? Don’t the power utilities and battery manufacturers do that anyway?
That picture reminds me of the Sizzlers set I had in the early 70s.
It's 100% efficient when the battery loses its charge in the middle of Kansas.
Only if you count a small portion of the energy chain. Most the energy used to ultimately fuel that vehicle never even made it to the meter at the charging station.
After that point, the charger, battery, inverter and motor together don't reach combined 90% efficiency either.
If I had extra cash laying around, I'd buy one.
Heck, those charging stations now located across the nation are free.
Unless Tesla recently changed their policy, super charging stations are only free for the P85 and above models.
somebody will figure out how to get a fast charge with solar
Not any time soon. Quick charging at home requires 80 or 100 AMP service
I get better gas mileage from coal then any car gets from gas!
“When the gas goes bonkers or the gubmint taxes it into the stratosphere, the Tesla is gonna keep cruising.”
Except Obama’s Nazi EPA has been closing one coal electric plant after another; 257 so far, I think.
I've also seen large number (relatively speaking) of these vehicles on the road here in Miami. I doubt I'm seeing the same ones. There is a Miami sales office. That's where I drove one.
I think the upper level model is the predominant model sold. I understand that they will have an SUV with a really cool vertical door system by the end of next year, although it's been delayed several times already so that's not written in stone.
Still, as I said, I'd love to get one, but it wouldn't be my primary means of transport. I'll stick to my Sahara Wrangler 4x4.
Yes, that's bad but I don't see the connection to Tesla. Here in Miami, a large chunk of our energy comes from the Turkey Point nuke plant. Heck if it's a real issue, hook the durn car up to a natural gas powered generator.
Duh. These central planners always think they can beat the market. They’re really rent seeking hyper-political weasels.
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