Regardless, Electric cars are no more energy efficient than internal combustion engine cars. Add in the lack of range and it is not an option for most people.
I can only imagine the lack of range on a 10 degree day in Illinois. I would suspect the heater would suck up allot of the potential range.
Electricity costs the equivalent of between $1.00 to $1.50 a gallon. It turns out that transforming heat into electricity centrally and shipping it out over the electric grid is a lot more efficient than everyone having their own little engine. Internal combustion engines have efficiencies in the 30% range, whereas electric motors are in the 90s.
“Add in the lack of range and it is not an option for most people. I can only imagine the lack of range on a 10 degree day in Illinois. I would suspect the heater would suck up allot of the potential range.”
The Chevy Volt has a 380 mile range: the first 40 miles every day are electric and then it switches to gasoline for the next 340 miles. As long as you know how to stop at a gas station, range is not an issue. Also, 78% of Americans drive less than 40 miles in their roundtrip work commute, so most people driving a Volt would only use gasoline when they go visit grandma.
That’s why all these carmakers make sure to test in places with brutal climates...like San Diego.
that way they get their pie-in-the-sky numbers to work.